


The universe is filled with light

by kitkat_tat



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Abduction, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Mutants, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Androids, Flying, Gen, Guilt, High School, Hurt/Comfort, Illusions, Mutants, Self-Acceptance, Self-Doubt, Shapeshifting, Superpowers, Swearing, Teleportation, X-Men Inspired, just a bit of violence here and there, not too graphic i hope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:48:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 55,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23730349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkat_tat/pseuds/kitkat_tat
Summary: In the present day, most mutants exist in hiding, afraid they will be shunned from their societies and communities. Those who are able to pass as human hide their abilities in order to be successful in their day-to-day lives. Some places of work refuse to hire people with the X-gene. In other aspects of life, they are denied basic human rights given by authorities, and are shamed and feared when seen in public. So it’s no wonder they decided to do something about their predicament.
Relationships: Ha Sooyoung | Yves/Kim Jiwoo | Chuu, Ha Sooyoung | Yves/Viian Wong | ViVi, Im Yeojin & Jo Haseul, Jeon Heejin/Kim Hyunjin, Jung Jinsol | Jinsoul/Kim Jungeun | Kim Lip
Comments: 20
Kudos: 109





	1. Exordium

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is finally happening!!  
> I started creating this fic over two years ago, oh my gosh it's been such a long process. I could honestly keep it to myself even longer because I love perfecting things. However! I have decided to publish what I got because I have so many other story ideas and I need to move on. So here is my baby :-: please be gentle with them.  
> But yeah, if you're reading this, thank you SO much for giving this a click, and I hope you enjoy!

Mutation. Mu-ta-tion. (n). the changing of the structure of a gene, resulting in a variant form that may be transmitted to subsequent generations, caused by the alteration of single base units in DNA, or the deletion, insertion, or rearrangement of larger sections of genes or chromosomes.

Mutant. Mu-tant. (n). a human being that possesses a genetic trait called the X-gene. 

Synonyms: freak, freak of nature, deviant, oddity, monstrosity, monster.

As far as we can remember, mutants have existed in our world. Our ancestors tell stories about mythical beings who could manipulate the forces of nature. They could summon the fiery depths of the earth, wreak havoc from the skies, and eliminate thousands with the blink of an eye. They were a force to be reckoned with. 

The mythical beings, or gods, as they were often referred to back then, were few in number, and rarely seen. While all were feared and cast out by those who knew them, some survived, and passed down their genes. The number of recorded mutants grew in number over time, persevering despite the large effort from humans to completely erase their existence.

At the end of the 20th century, activist groups began to sprout up all over the world, crying out against the maltreatment they and their people had suffered. In some countries, these groups were able to secure rights for mutants, while others were not so fortunate. Many, like the Mutant Liberation Front in South Korea, were forced to operate underground for fear of their lives. More often than not, they were arrested and punished by the governmental bodies in power. 

In the present day, most mutants exist in hiding, afraid they will be shunned from their societies and communities. Those who are able to pass as human hide their abilities in order to be successful in their day-to-day lives. Some places of work refuse to hire people with the X-gene. In other aspects of life, they are denied basic human rights given by authorities, and are shamed and feared when seen in public. So it’s no wonder they decided to do something about their predicament.

* * *

Yerim opened her eyes groggily, snapping out of her dream. She rubbed her head as she sat up, stretching. It had been about that girl again, the same girl she had been dreaming about for the past week.

Pushing the questions she had no answers to out of her head, she began to get ready for school. She brushed her long, brown hair in the mirror and grabbed her school uniform where it was resting, neatly folded on the chair beside her bed. When she was dressed, she swung her book bag over her shoulder, slipped on her shoes, and locked the door behind her.

The air was a little brisk, but Yerim found it quite refreshing on her morning walks to school. She only lived a few blocks away from the campus, and it was a nice way to fully wake herself up, her dreams forgotten.

On her walk, she passed by a bakery, the wonderful smell pulling her towards the delicacies on display in the window. She stared longingly at one of the cakes in the window, but her pockets were empty even if she wanted to buy one.

As she began to walk away, a poster in the window caught her eye. “Get your children tested for the X-gene,” it advertised. Below, there was a list of locations that held treatment facilities. Yerim gripped the strap of her bag, expression dark, and walked away. 

Mutants had always existed alongside humans. This was common knowledge. Though Yerim had never personally known anyone who was a mutant. When she was younger, one of her neighbors was revealed to be one. The next day, he was gone, and so were all of his belongings, like he had never existed. 

It was better that they were tested and taken care of by the authorities, Yerim decided. They were too dangerous to be around humans anyways. 

She reached school with plenty of time to get to her classes, always leaving her apartment early in the morning. On one of the walls, a poster had been taped up that read, “We Are Humans Too.” From the looks of it, the poster had been ripped down several times before. Yerim walked by, eyeing it with slight suspicion. Whoever kept re-posting it had nerve. Public support of mutants could get a person arrested, and at the very least expelled from the school. 

She sat down at her desk and pulled out her bag of pens, eager to get the day over before it had even begun.

Much to her luck, the day passed by in a flash, and before she knew it, she flopped down onto her bed in exhaustion. On the wall by her desk, a calendar counted down the days until the end of the school year. Finals were in just one week, and then she would be free. 

Yerim rolled over onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. Her thoughts kept swirling in her head, as much as she wanted them to leave her alone.

 _I love you._

Yerim bolted upright, breathing heavily. Then she grabbed her earbuds out of her bag and shoved them in her ears, furiously throwing her music on shuffle. She spent the next two hours scrolling through her social media feeds in a fruitless attempt to distract herself. 

Somehow, she dozed off, and when she woke, it was later in the evening. Yerim stood from her bed slowly, stretching her arms above her head in the process. She sighed, walking out into the kitchen, wondering if she should make herself dinner. She opened the fridge to find a half-empty carton of milk, three eggs, and a box of leftovers she had forgotten to eat a few days ago. Suffice to say a trip to the supermarket was a bit overdue. She closed the door, deciding to settle on eating an apple.

When she turned around, she jumped. A girl was standing in her living room.

“How did you get in here?” Yerim asked, heart beating at an alarming rate. 

The girl didn’t respond. She didn’t even turn around. Yerim stared at her long, blonde hair that seemed to cascade in waves down her back. It was the same girl she had been dreaming about, wearing the same, white dress. As the girl turned around, Yerim noticed she was holding something in her hands. When she looked closer, she realized it was a slice of cake with a single cherry on top. 

Yerim looked up at the girl, who was now facing her, watching her expectantly. When Yerim didn’t move, the girl plucked the cherry off the top of the cake and ate it.

With a gasp, Yerim bolted upright, waking from her dream for real this time. Taking in her surroundings, she realized she was still in her room, except now it was morning, and she was covered in a layer of sweat. She groaned upon realizing she had slept in her uniform. Changing out of her clothes, she stepped into the bathroom to take a cold shower.

As she ran her fingers through her hair, she decided she was going to get to the bottom of this mystery girl once and for all.

When she was done, she changed into more comfortable clothes and headed out. Thankfully, it was a Saturday, so she could do whatever she wanted with her time. 

Yerim strolled down the sidewalk aimlessly until her feet took her to the cafe she had been gazing longingly at just the day before. However, this time she brushed past the display and walked inside.

The interior was quite small, but had a cozy atmosphere. There was only one barista behind the counter, and about half of the tables were filled with customers sipping coffee and eating pastries. Yerim’s eyes roamed over all of them until she found what she was looking for. At first, she didn’t move. She had been so sure her imagination had conjured her, but there she was, sitting at a small table in the back corner. The girl with platinum blonde hair that she had been dreaming about.

The girl looked up and the two of them locked eyes. 

Slowly, Yerim made her way towards the girl, her gaze never breaking. She slid into the chair opposite the girl, her hands shaking slightly.

Yerim was the first to speak. “Who are you?” She asked, though both girls knew it was more of a demand than a question.

“My name is Jung Jinsoul.” The girl replied, calmly taking a sip of her drink.

“Do I know you?” Yerim asked, this time more curious. 

Jinsoul set her cup down. “Well, I’ve never met you before, so if you did, I would be surprised.” 

“Then tell me why I keep dreaming about you.”

Jinsoul’s expression turned to one of knowing, causing Yerim to lean back. She didn’t realize that she had been sitting on the edge of her seat. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes.

Finally, Jinsoul broke the silence. “Would you like anything to drink?” She asked.

Yerim narrowed her eyes. “I want you to answer my question.” She replied coldly, though her voice quavered.

“I insist.” Jinsoul pushed, still ignoring her. “I’ll pay.”

Yerim pursed her lips before finally giving in. “Fine. I’ll have a hot chocolate with whipped cream and a blueberry scone.” She said, trying to sound indifferent.

“Sure thing.” Jinsoul said, offering her a smile, which Yerim didn’t return. 

She stood up and headed over to the register, where a barista was waiting to take her order. Yerim watched her closely. She must be hiding something, Yerim thought to herself. Why else would she be acting so calm and mysterious?

Jinsoul returned to the table and sat down gracefully. “It’ll be ready in just one moment.” She said, “Now, where were we? Ah yes, your dreams. I promise to try to answer your questions to the best of my ability, but I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to explain all of them.”

“Why have I been seeing you in my dreams?” Yerim asked once more. “I’ve never met you before.”

“Well that should be obvious.” Jinsoul said, her expression plain. “It’s because you’re like me.”

“Like… you?” Yerim asked. “How? Wait—what do you mean?”

“So you haven’t figured it out yet… this’ll be a little more difficult than I anticipated.” Jinsoul said to herself.

“What do you mean more difficult?” Yerim demanded, her voice raising a little. 

Jinsoul’s eyes widened at her change in demeanor before she recomposed herself. “It’ll probably be easier to show you.” She said, before standing up and heading towards the back of the cafe.

Yerim grappled with just leaving right then and there. She felt as though she was getting pulled into something, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be submerged completely.

But she had to know what Jinsoul was talking about. Why were they the same? She seemed to know more than she was letting on, and Yerim was determined to get to the bottom of it. Her hunger unsatiated, she stood and followed Jinsoul past the bathrooms and out the back door. 

She stepped into the alleyway behind the cafe. Jinsoul was waiting for her, and smiled when Yerim joined her. The blonde girl moved closer to her, holding her hand out before her. Hesitantly, Yerim grasped her hand, surprised by its warmth. 

She barely had enough time to think about that though, because the second after she slipped her hand into Jinsoul’s, the ground disappeared beneath her. When her feet touched back onto the solid earth once more, her knees buckled and she collapsed to the ground, startled to find herself surrounded by grass, and not pavement.

“Where…where are we?” Yerim asked feebly, trying desperately to make the world stop spinning.

“Just outside of town.” Jinsoul said, somehow still standing. “I thought it would be better to talk in private.”

“But that’s impossible.” Yerim said weakly, her vision finally returning to normal. “We were just standing behind the cafe.” Even as her words left her mouth, a sense of dread was pooling in her stomach, her worst fears coming true. 

“It is. For the same reason you saw me in your dream.” Jinsoul said, and Yerim wondered if her nausea was really a side effect of the teleportation. 

“No.” Yerim felt herself say. “No no no. I’m not like you. I’m not a mutant.” 

Maybe, she hoped, her words would make Jinsoul turn around, apologizing for dragging the wrong person into her mess. Or maybe Yerim would wake up and it would all be just another bad dream.

But she didn’t wake up, and Jinsoul didn’t turn around and walk away. She just looked at her sadly.

“I know it’s a lot to take in.” Jinsoul said softly. “I promise I’m only telling you because I want to help you.”

Yerim looked down at her hands, forming fists as she clenched the grass. She felt tears start to prick at the corners of her eyes.

_I love you._

This was wrong. This was wrong. She wasn’t a mutant. Jinsoul had to be mistaken. That’s what Yerim told herself, but as much as she tried to deny it, deep down she knew that it was true. 

“I understand if you need time to think about it.” Jinsoul said. Her voice sounded muffled in Yerim’s ears. “I can return you to your house if you want.”

She nodded faintly and stood up. Jinsoul held her hand out once more, and Yerim grasped it. In the next instant, they were standing on her front steps.

“You know where to find me.” Jinsoul said cryptically, before vanishing.

With that, Yerim walked inside and collapsed on her bed.

* * *

“Here we go.” Jinsoul said, looking up at the towering, cold building that stood before them. 

Yerim returned to the present, walking a few paces forward and stopping next to Jinsoul and Jungeun. The trio stood in the shadow of the school, shivering as the cold breeze blew through their clothes. They wore matching long-sleeved, white-collared button-up shirts under bright, pink knit vests with white pleated skirts.

As they walked through the front doors of the school, Yerim glanced at the sign that read: Useon High School. It was the public high school that most teenagers attended in the area, but it served a bit of a different purpose for them. It was their cover.

“Let’s get this over with.” Jungeun muttered under her breath, her resolve crumbling upon knowing she was returning to high school. “It’s only seven hours of our day. Spent in a classroom.”

“Don’t give up!” Jinsoul patted her arm reassuringly, “High school isn’t so bad.”

“You dropped out.” Jungeun deadpanned.

“I had other obligations!” Jinsoul whined. “I had fun while I was there.” And then she whispered to herself, “I kind of miss it, actually.”

Yerim sighed, not excited at the prospect of continuing her high school career either. Like Jinsoul, she didn’t hate it. Studying and learning was something she found joy and passion in. However, she and Jungeun agreed that they thought their time could be better spent elsewhere. 

She was starting her second year, Jungeun her third, and Jinsoul, well, had Jinsoul continued in school, she would be starting her fourth. She simply forged her school transcripts and pretended as if she were transferring from her old high school. One of her many talents, as Yerim had discovered.

They entered the building and clung to the walls as they walked to their class. Since they were all in different years, they didn’t share any classes. Yerim gripped the straps of her backpack nervously at the thought of being separated from her new friends for a lengthy period of time, even though Jinsoul had assured her that they would be with her during their breaks. They had already decided on a location to meet during their lunch hour. 

“Alright, this is your stop.” Jinsoul said, smiling at Yerim.

The younger girl nodded nervously. Anything she might’ve wanted to say to them died in her throat, so she headed inside instead. She quickly chose a seat in the back and tried to sit there inconspicuously.

 _If you get into trouble, just call one of us and we’ll come to get you._

She was on edge, that much was clear. This was the first time she had ventured into a public space with lots of people since Jinsoul helped her figure out her abilities. If someone figured out who she was, she didn’t know what would happen to her. No one really knew what happened to those who were discovered to be carrying the X-gene, but deep down they were too afraid to find out.

 _It’s just like before,_ Yerim told herself, _you’ve been living with this power your whole life and no one knew._

But her heart would not stop hammering in her chest. In an attempt to distract herself, she turned her head to look out the window, her thought spiraling back to the weekend before finals, when she first met Jinsoul.

* * *

She had woken up the next day with bags under her eyes. After what Jinsoul told her, she had been unable to sleep comfortably, tossing and turning and waking up every two hours.

She groaned as she stood up, rubbing her eyes blearily. Her thoughts were a mess. She was still in denial. She walked slowly from her bedroom to the bathroom adjacent to it.

Yerim ran her fingers through her tangled hair until it was smooth again, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Then she lowered her hands until they lay by her sides. She wasn’t a mutant. She wasn’t. She wasn’t. She was _not_. Mutants were dangerous. She wasn’t dangerous. Was she?

Tears started pouring down her face, and she grabbed the sides of her face in fear and frustration, messing up her hair once more. She fell to the floor, hugging herself as she sobbed against the cold tiles. She just couldn’t accept it. She didn’t want to accept it. 

Yerim lay there on the ground for what seemed like an eternity, staring up at the ceiling until her tears stopped flowing and eventually dried. She knew what she had to do but she didn’t want to do it. She didn’t know if she had the strength.

She could have hid in her room all day, denying what Jinsoul had told her. Instead, she stood up, changed her clothes, and walked out the door.

Yerim was surprised to see the older girl sitting in the same place she had met her yesterday. As she sipped on her drink, steam rising in front of her, the barista walked by her table and said something to her. She also had blonde hair. Jinsoul’s face lit up with laughter at whatever the girl said, and when her eyes met Yerim’s, her giggles quieted down, but her eyes still held the same brightness. As Yerim moved over to her table, Jinsoul said something quickly to the barista before she returned to the counter. 

“It’s nice to see you again.” Jinsoul said as the younger girl sat down across from her. 

Yerim wished she could say the same. Her stomach hadn’t stopped churning since the previous day. 

Before she could say anything, the barista returned and set a mug of hot chocolate and a blueberry scone on a small plate in front of her. Yerim looked up at her in surprise, about to tell her she hadn’t ordered anything, when Jinsoul thanked her, and she walked away. 

“I, uh, forgot to get you your drink that you ordered yesterday, so I thought I’d make it up to you.” Jinsoul said sheepishly.

“Oh…” Yerim whispered. She had completely forgotten that the older girl had bought her a drink yesterday. “You really didn’t need to do that, but thank you.” 

Jinsoul waved her off, taking another sip of her drink.

Yerim looked down at her hot chocolate. The whipped cream was piled on top of the steaming drink, slowly melting into it. Deciding it was too hot to drink at the moment, she broke off a corner of the scone and popped it into her mouth.

“Listen.” Yerim said finally. Jinsoul had set her drink down, waiting for the other girl to speak when she felt comfortable. “Part of me doesn’t want to believe what you told me yesterday.” She confessed in a whisper.

The other part of her knew, deep down, that everything the blonde girl told her was true. Jinsoul could see the recognition written on her face. She didn’t need to voice it out loud.

“But.” Yerim continued, “I need your help to figure it out and control it.”

Jinsoul nodded. “I was being completely honest when I told you all I wanted to do was help you.”

Yerim sat with her words for a minute, taking another corner off her scone and nibbling it. “Can I ask you something?” She said. Jinsoul nodded. “How did you come to know about me?”

“The first time was completely by accident.” Jinsoul admitted. “I was just planning on passing through this town, but then I met someone and they convinced me to stay for a bit. Then I saw you in my dream, and I knew you were like me. The second night, however, when I saw you again, I had a suspicion you didn’t intend to reach out to me on purpose.”

“Why did you want to help me?” Yerim asked.

At her question, Jinsoul studied her drink for a few seconds. Then she looked up and laughed a little, but it sounded hollow. “I guess I saw a bit of myself in you. You know, the younger me. Lost.” She chuckled, taking a sip of her drink to hide her embarrassment.

Yerim felt touched by the concern of the other girl. She wanted to express her sadness for her, but decided against it, thinking Jinsoul probably wanted anything but her sympathy. Instead, she lifted the mug of hot chocolate to her lips and took a careful sip. She smiled when she found the chocolate had cooled to a moderate temperature.

* * *

The sound of the bell startled Yerim out of her thoughts, and she realized with a start that she had dozed off for the entirety of her first class. She quickly packed up with the rest of the students and headed out to the hallway.

As soon as she stepped out of the classroom, she spotted Jinsoul and Jungeun. She walked over to them, holding onto the straps of her backpack, and smiling as they noticed her approach, as if she were just a regular schoolgirl. She wasn’t, but it didn’t hurt to pretend.

“So, how was your first class of the day?” Jungeun asked as they walked down the hall.

“Oh, you know, I’m sure it was great! But… I kinda zoned out for the whole thing.” Yerim admitted.

“I have never been more proud.” Jungeun held her hand over her heart, causing Jinsoul to lightly punch her arm. Yerim giggled at her joking antics. She really was lucky to have met the two of them.

When Jinsoul had introduced Yerim to the friend who had convinced Jinsoul to stay in town for a little longer than one night, her jaw had dropped.

“You’re the barista!” She practically shrieked, recognizing the blonde-haired girl who had served her hot chocolate and blueberry scone. 

Jungeun had stifled her laughter, responding simply with, “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Hang on,” Yerim said. “You said she convinced you to stay in town. So you two have known each other since Jinsoul arrived. How did you two even meet?”

The two girls glanced at each other briefly before speaking.

“Um, well, I stopped at the cafe because the smell of the pastries wafting onto the sidewalk was so tempting.” Jinsoul began.

“And when she came up to the counter, I asked her if she wanted coffee. She said no, and then proceeded to launch into a whole tangent about how she can’t drink anything but decaf, but she doesn’t like the taste, so she doesn’t drink coffee at all, even though a simple ‘no’ would have sufficed.” Jungeun cut in.

Jinsoul frowned jokingly. “Yeah, sure, I could have.” She said. “But do you know what her response to mine was? She said, ‘Me too!’ and so we bonded over our inability to consume caffeine and became natural friends. All thanks to my tangent.”

“I think your stomach has more responsibility than your mouth.” Jungeun said, and Jinsoul punched her this time, thought it was much too light to actually hurt her.

“Wait, why can neither of you drink coffee?” Yerim asked, out of the loop.

“I get too out of control if I drink it.” Jinsoul explained. “It makes me jumpy and I end up teleporting to random places.”

Yerim nodded and then looked to Jungeun. She didn’t know what her abilities were, or even if she had any to begin with. 

“The first time I drank coffee, I nearly ran into a brick wall.” Jungeun explained, answering her question. 

Yeah, she was definitely lucky to have them.

* * *

The next morning, the sun was just beginning to rise over the sleepy town. Behind a neat, tidy house, a white rabbit hopped out of the bushes and bounded towards the back door. It sniffed at the sliding door that led to the kitchen, sticking its paw through the gap where the door had been left slightly open.

Squeezing its body through the gap, the rabbit pushed the door open a bit wider, and entered the kitchen. It slowly hopped across the cold, clean tile. Then it turned to the left and hopped down the hallway. There were two doors facing each other: the one on the right was shut, and when the rabbit pressed its ear to the wood, it could hear the soft snores of an old woman. The door on the left, however, was left ajar.

The rabbit peered into the room to see a girl sleeping on a bed, her wavy, dark brown hair fanned out on the pillow. Her hand hung off the side, dangling an inch above the wooden floorboards. The rabbit hopped over to it, sniffing her fingers. Then it hopped up onto the bed next to the girl, padding over to the pillow next to her head, and sniffing her nose.

The girl giggled softly, feeling the soft whiskers as they tickled her cheeks, and the cold tip of the rabbits nose on her own. She opened her brown eyes slowly, looking at the white rabbit that was obscuring most of her vision. 

The rabbit sat on the pillow as the girl sat up and stretched her arms sleepily above her head, watching her. The girl turned to the rabbit and frowned.

“What is it? Do you want breakfast?” She asked.

The rabbit’s ears swiveled forward a bit, indicating that it was indeed hungry. The girl waved her fingers, and a bright, orange carrot appeared on the pillow beside the rabbit. 

The rabbit swiped a paw at the orange vegetable, and it promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke. The rabbit looked up at the girl who was trying unsuccessfully to hide her laughter. In the next instant, a girl with long black hair was sitting on the mattress where the rabbit once was.

“Very funny, Heejin.” The girl said, frowning.

Heejin shrugged her shoulders as she picked up a brush and ran it through her hair a few times. “You can’t just eat bread every day, Hyunjin.”

Hyunjin sniffed in disdain, crossing her arms in front of her to tell Heejin she could, and she would. Heejin smiled at her cheekily, saying, “You know you love me.”

Hyunjin rolled her eyes at her friend’s antics. “Hurry up and get ready. I don’t want to be late on the second day of school.”

“You didn’t deny it.” Heejin said in a sing-song voice.

Hyunjin shoved her lightly as she got up and headed toward the door. “I’m going to make breakfast.” She called softly over her shoulder as she padded out into the hallway. 

She retraced her earlier steps back out into the small, neat kitchen, softly humming to herself as she went through the cupboards and the fridge. She set two eggs and a bag of croissants that Heejin’s grandmother would buy at the market because she knew Hyunjin liked them, on the counter. 

By the time she had finished frying the eggs on the stove and placing them on the sliced croissants, Heejin joined her in the kitchen. She was wearing the same pink and white uniform Hyunjin was clad in, and the light makeup on her face enhanced her already-pretty features.

“Thanks Hyunjinie.” Heejin said, helping her set the table. Although this was a regular routine of theirs, Heejin always expressed her gratitude. Both her and her grandmother were thankful when Hyunjin came into their lives, because Heejin could not cook to save her life. Well, maybe for other reasons too, but that was definitely the main one.

They finished their breakfast quietly, save for the occasional jab or joke. It was mornings like these when they would pretend that nothing outside their bubble existed. They pretended it was just the two of them, happily existing and nothing more. 

Heejin cleared their plates and then poked her head inside her grandmother’s room to tell her they were heading to school. Hyunjin slung her book bag over her shoulder. In twelve minutes, they would step onto the school campus and be harshly reminded that they couldn’t pretend forever.

* * *

The bell rang out, signalling the end of the period. Heejin stood in the dimly lit locker room, where the only light came from the opaque windows above the rows of lockers. Hyunjin was changing out of her gym clothes in one of the aisles.

Heejin looked at her own reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were a bit puffy, and she rubbed them with the pads of her fingers in a futile attempt to reduce their size. Upon realizing that her appearance hadn’t changed, she pulled a mascara wand out of her bag and swiped it over her upper lashes a few times.

She had to stay strong, for her friends. She couldn’t let her resolve crumble. She couldn’t let down her appearance, even though with every step she took, it felt like someone was choking the air out of her lungs.

Heejin glanced over her shoulder to see Hyunjin buttoning up her shirt. Her eyes got lost in the toned curves of her arms. Even though she had quit soccer last year, she was still very fit.

It made Heejin sad that her best friend had quit her favorite activity, though she knew it was even worse for Hyunjin. The same time she quit soccer was the same time Heejin stopped painting in the art studio after school. Painting had always brought her joy, and she found it was a good way to fill the time as she waited for Hyunjin’s practice to end. Now, though, every time she tried to put her brush to the canvas, she couldn’t make it move.

The same time the two friends no longer found interest in their hobbies, Haseul stopped coming to school.

Heejin’s eyes shot to the floor angrily. Her fist began to shake as she clutched her mascara wand, and she took a deep breath to calm herself before closing it and slipping it back into her bag. She turned back to the mirror to fix her hair.

Only there was someone else standing in the mirror, looking at her with what must have been an equally shocked expression. Heejin blinked, and then she was staring at her own, pale face. The girl vanished as soon as she had appeared.

“I hope you’re not cheating on me with your own reflection.” Hyunjin joked beside her, and Heejin jumped slightly. She hadn’t noticed her friend sneak up beside her.

With much practiced ease, Heejin slipped into the false smile she hid behind every day. “I don’t think my reflection stands much of a chance against you.” She joked.

“You’re damn right.” Hyunjin said with confidence, flicking her hair for emphasis.

“Oh shut up.” Heejin said, shoving her playfully. “C’mon, next period is about to start.”

The two girls left the locker room without so much of a glance behind them, but not without the unease that accompanies the feeling of being watched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, okay, first chapter out of the way!  
> I'm going to try to post a new chapter every other week but we'll see how that goes. I have the next two mostly written so hopefully I can finish before the end of the summer. Also I hope the chapter lengths remain somewhat constant, though I may start to cram information into later chapters if I realize there are plot holes whoops.  
> Also JUST in case anyone is wondering, I came up with the idea around December...? of 2017, so Gowon and Olivia Hye had not yet joined the group. Then when they debuted and the group debuted, that somewhat influenced the timeline. Anyway stream So What.
> 
> Insta - @ace.aesthetics  
> Twitter - @kitkat_tat


	2. Abience

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! Here's the next chapter, I know it's kinda short. I wanted to post a bit early because I'm going to be driving this weekend. Enjoy!

It had been two weeks since three new girls appeared at Useon High. Three weeks, and Yerim had yet to find any information on… well, anything. While Jinsoul had filled her and Jungeun in on her plan, she hadn’t told them everything. Yerim thought that maybe she should bring up the subject later, because she didn’t see how she could possibly help when she didn’t even know what she was supposed to be looking for.

She sighed to herself, sitting by the window in her morning class. She fiddled with a purple glitter pen in her hand as she stared at the trees outside, absentmindedly. When she had still been a regular high school student, she had spent an excessive amount of time decorating her notes for her classes. Looking back, she wondered why she had engaged in something so pointless. 

The teacher began to call roll, and Yerim turned her head to the front, if only to avoid drawing attention to herself. She only tuned in half-way, but in time to hear the teacher call out a name that struck a chord in her.

“Jeon Heejin.”

Yerim knew that she had never heard the name before. She scanned the classroom, trying to see who the student was, and why she sounded familiar.

“Present.” The girl—Heejin, said.

She was sitting a couple rows over from Yerim, her posture perfect in her seat. Her brown hair fell down her back in elegant waves, and her complexion was practically flawless. Yerim didn’t have to know her to guess that she was one of the more popular students at the school—one that turned heads every time she walked through the hallway.

With a start, Yerim realized Heejin was now staring at her, fixing her with a cold gaze. Yerim gasped silently, her eyes widening. She turned sharply to look at the front of the room, tearing her own gaze away, heart hammering in her chest.

It was Heejin. Heejin was the uniformed girl she had seen in the mirror on her first day of class. Only moments before, she had stepped away from Jungeun and Jinsoul during lunch to wash her hands. As she was drying them with a paper towel, she had looked up at her reflection, only to find a completely different girl standing on the other side.

This was her. This was the girl she had seen in the mirror. She had raced back to her friends to tell them what she had witnessed. It was obviously a result of her powers, though this time they had branched outside of her dream-state. She didn’t realize she could access them while she was awake, and her hands shook at the thought that she had found another mutant at the school.

Her heart raced as she sat at her desk, pointedly staring at the board while the teacher wrote down notes. She couldn’t tell if Heejin was still looking at her. She obviously recognized Yerim from their shared encounter, but had her stare been about? She looked angry, and Yerim didn’t think she wanted to find out why.

She wrote down a few notes to act as if she was paying attention, but she quickly grew bored and began to sketch in the corner of her page instead. Then I thought struck her: how long had she been sitting in the classroom, unaware that Heejin had been sitting two rows away from her? She really hadn’t been paying attention as well as she thought.

Yerim snuck a glance at the girl. Heejin was looking at her notebook, tapping her pencil on the page. She didn’t appear to be focused on the lecture or on anything happening around her, which Yerim thought was a little weird. Though, she couldn’t blame her. Most of the students around them were also struggling to pay attention at this hour of the morning.

That’s when Yerim realized that Heejin appeared kind of sad. Her eyes, no longer filled with malice, looked dull and empty. None of the students around her were looking at her or passing her notes like they were with each other, which debunked Yerim’s theory that she was a popular student. Perhaps she was new, like Yerim, although something told her that theory was incorrect as well.

Outside, the sky was clear, only a few clouds to be seen. On the edge of the horizon, however, it looked as though the beginnings of a storm were brewing. 

The bell rang, and the students began to pack up their things. Yerim placed her things in her bag and stood, her eyes immediately jumping to Heejin’s desk, only to find that the other girl had already left the room. Yerim looked around before shouldering her bag and following the other students into the hallway. Maybe, she thought to herself, it was better not to approach the other girl. Her cold stare was still present in Yerim’s mind.

As she turned down the hallway to find Jinsoul and Jungeun, a cold hand latched onto her wrist with a vice-like grip, causing her to jump slightly. She spun around to find Heejin, glaring at her with the same expression as earlier.

“Follow me.” Heejin said, her hand still gripping Yerim’s wrist as she proceeded to drag her down the hallway and into an empty classroom. Yerim didn’t have much option but to keep pace with her and avoid the stares of the other students.

Heejin shut the door behind them, letting go of Yerim’s wrist. Once she was sure there was no one nearby that could hear or see them, she turned back to the other girl who was now rubbing her sore skin.

“Who are you?” Heejin demanded, crossing her arms across her chest.

“My-my name is Choi Yerim—”

“I know your name, we share the same class.” Heejin snapped, her eyes filled with icy fire. “I want to know who you  _ are _ . Who you work for.”

Yerim instinctually took a step back. Heejin noticed, the fire in her eyes dying down slightly.

“I don’t work for anyone.” Yerim said truthfully. “I came here with my friends; we’re looking for information on a covert operation funded by a private corporation. An anti-mutant operation.”

Heejin’s expression turned from anger to confusion. “What corporation?” She asked after a pause.

Yerim bit back her dismay at another dead end. “I don’t know the name, Jinsoul didn’t tell me that much about them. Just that the government is investing in a project that, put simply, wouldn’t be good for us once it’s completed.”

Heejin studied her carefully. “Then… you don’t work for the people that took Yeojin?”

“No.” Yerim said, shaking her head. “Wait, who’s Yeojin?”

Heejin bit her lip and then pulled her phone out of her bag and tapped on a photo. In the photo, two girls were laughing loudly. One of them was Heejin, her eyes scrunched up as she laughed heartily. The girl next to her had light brown hair pulled into two pucca buns. She appeared slightly younger, her round cheeks making her look small as she was also doubled over in laughter. 

“This is my friend.” Heejin explained, pocketing her phone once more. “She disappeared a few months back, but the police don’t have any leads. She was… like us.”

_ Like us. _

“Well, sorry for bothering you.” Heejin said, her hands fidgeting at her sides. Her eyes looked glassy, like mirrors that could shatter at any moment. She stepped around Yerim to leave.

Yerim watched her go, feeling as though her heart was being squeezed in her chest. “Wait!” She called out. Heejin stopped, her hand on the door handle.

“You don’t think… the people that are behind this might be connected to the private corporation my friend is looking for, do you?” Yerim asked.

Heejin turned to look at her over her shoulder, her eyebrows raised quizzically. “I wouldn’t know.” She said after a moment. “Like I said, the police don’t have any leads.” And with that, she was gone.

Yerim stood alone in the empty classroom, her mind whirling. Maybe there was more to the story than she or Heejin knew. What if the police didn’t have any leads because the investigation was being covered up? She ran her fingers through her hair. The bell had already rung for the next class but Yerim couldn’t find it in herself to care. She needed to talk to Jinsoul and Jungeun.

* * *

Outside of the town, lay a vast expanse of rolling hills, like a brown and green ocean. The clouds hung low in the sky, gray and foreboding, with the promise of a storm to come.

Amidst the waves, a yellow truck crawled along the desolate road, creeping further and further away from civilization.

Once the hills evened out somewhat, they gave way to large, open fields of grass. Haseul eased her foot off the gas pedal and pulled over to the side of the road, gravel crunching beneath her tires. She took the key out of the ignition, slowly. Then she sat there, leaning her head against the window as she watched the dark clouds build in the sky. There was no escaping them. There never was.

Haseul opened the car door and stepped out into the cold air. Her breath puffed out in front of her in white clouds. She began to walk away from the road, away from her truck, out into the middle of the field, wherever her feet decided to take her. 

Nearly three months ago, she had been walking down the street to see her friend, Yeojin. They had planned a sleepover earlier that week, eagerly counting down the days to the weekend. 

When Saturday morning finally came, Yeojin instructed her friend to be over by 10 o’clock sharp. Her uncle was away for the weekend, so she had big plans for all the fun things they were going to do. Sing karaoke, complete a movie marathon, do makeovers, paint their nails, bake cookies, and of course, eat a lot of sweets. 

Haseul was running slightly late. She still had a couple blocks in between her and Yeojin’s apartment by the time it was 10 o’clock. She figured Yeojin would forgive her, though, because Haseul had stopped to pick up her favorite gummy candies on the way.

As she waited for the crossing signal at the corner of an intersection, Haseul checked her phone. Yeojin had been messaging her all morning, which was an amazing feat in itself, because Yeojin was not a morning person. Her last message was timestamped at 9:57. It read,  _ I’m going to eat all this cookie dough before I can put it in the oven to actually bake. _

Haseul giggled as she read it again. Then she typed,  _ I swear I’m on my way! Also don’t eat too much or your stomach will hurt later :P _

The signal changed, and Haseul pocketed her phone once more. Her chest felt light with excitement and anticipation as she made her way down the street.

When Haseul finally reached Yeojin’s door on the second floor of the apartment complex, she immediately knew something was wrong. The door was hanging slightly open, and the lock was busted. Haseul opened the door slowly and stepped into the quiet apartment. 

She looked around, taking in the stillness of it all. Yeojin was nowhere to be seen, but nothing was out of place either. 

“Yeojin?” Haseul called, setting her bag on the counter. When she didn’t hear a reply, she walked between the rooms, searching every nook and cranny in the small apartment that she knew. Still, there was no sign of her friend.

A cold pool of dread began to settle in her stomach. Haseul took out her phone and sent her friend a quick text to ask where she was. Immediately as she hit send, she heard a vibration from the kitchen. On the counter next to the fridge, was Yeojin’s phone, along with the cookie dough she had been preparing. Haseul picked it up to see that the text she sent earlier hadn’t even been read.

Panic began to set in, and Haseul felt like ice was coursing through her veins. That was when she discovered that a cookie sheet had been set on the ground upside down. Haseul squatted down to examine it, only to find that one of the corners had a sizable dent in it. It hadn’t been set on the ground—it had been dropped. 

Haseul began to dial the number to call the police, her breathing rapid and uneven, and her fingers shaking so badly she could barely hold her phone.

* * *

Her breath hitched, snapping her out of her flashback. Haseul looked around to discover that she had wandered so far that she could no longer see her truck. She also realized that snow had begun to spiral down from the dark clouds that lingered above her. Of course.

Her powers were useless. They were a curse. The only thing they brought were endlessly gloomy days. They couldn’t even save her best friend.

The wind around her grew harsher, colder, until it was tearing at her clothes. But Haseul didn’t feel the piercing cold, even though it froze her breath and nipped at her skin. She didn’t feel much of anything these days.

If only she had gotten to Yeojin’s apartment sooner. If only she hadn’t stopped to buy her favorite gummies on the way. If only she hadn’t set her alarm to snooze that morning.

_ Your fault. Your fault. Your fault. _

People had tried to tell her that there was nothing she could have done, that it was out of her control, but the prickly feeling of shame never left her alone. It raced across her skin every waking moment of the day, and there was nothing she could do to stop her endlessly spiraling thoughts.

So she had stopped going to school. It was her last year, and she knew it would look bad for colleges, but not a single ounce of her cared. The only thing that mattered was finding Yeojin. 

“Please just come back to school.” Heejin had begged after their first day of classes.

But Haseul would have felt useless, cooped up behind a desk, learning about stupid grammar structures and calculus formulas. What was the point if Yeojin wasn’t there with them? It was supposed to be their first year attending the same school together. All four of them, together. They had even gone to the store a while back to buy materials. Yeojin had seen some cute stickers and demanded each of them buy some. She picked out white rabbits for Heejin, various cats for Hyunjin, white birds for Haseul, and green frogs for herself.

“You’re not going to find her all by yourself.” Hyunjin had crossed her arms, always the realist of their group. “It’s dangerous. The least you could do is let us help you.”

Haseul wouldn’t allow that either. 

She knew painfully well that she wouldn’t be able to find her friend by herself, and she knew that investigating whatever the police couldn’t crack would put herself at danger. It still felt better to do something than nothing at all. 

The snow continued to swirl around her in an endless spiral, just like her thoughts.

After some time of aimlessly walking through the snow, Haseul paused, squinting into the distance. There was some sort of gray object, but she couldn’t make it out through the flurries. She kept walking, and the large, hulking object grew somewhat into focus.

Haseul gasped when she realized what it was. In the middle of the barren field, surrounded by a blanket of snow, was the hull of a large airplane. The paint had been stripped away, leaving the grey metal exposed to the elements. The wings and tail had also fallen off.

Once Haseul drew close enough to it, she stepped up to the cabin and peered inside. If there had been seats there, they no longer sat in the interior. Haseul gripped the freezing metal in her hands and hoisted herself up into the plane, gazing around at the wreck.

Strangely, as she sat down towards the front of the cabin, the roaring wind outside died down. Her thoughts also became quieter as she folded her legs up to her chest and leaned against the wall. It was almost… peaceful.

* * *

Far away on the other side of town, Yerim flopped down on the dusty mattress inside one of the bedrooms of the house. She immediately regretted it, though, when all of the dust exploded into the air. Yerim coughed, sitting up and frantically waving her hands in front of her face.

A week before the first classes began, Jinsoul had found a house for her, Yerim, and Jungeun to squat in, for lack of a better term. It was an old house located at the edge of town that hadn’t been lived in for years, the reason unknown. However, despite being abandoned, the house was still furnished with beds and couches and tables. Some of the couches had been covered when they arrived, but everything else had visible layers of dust coating them. The three girls had tried their best to make the space livable, but the rooms were still stuffy and musty with age.

Yerim sighed as she sat on the mattress. Jungeun was out applying for a job at a local coffee shop to rake in some extra cash for them, and Jinsoul was out… doing whatever it was she usually did. Yerim figured it was probably research, but she didn’t ask often. 

As she sat in the empty house by herself, her mind wandered back to the events earlier that day. As soon as Heejin had left Yerim in the classroom after her confrontation, Yerim had rushed off to find her friends and tell them everything Heejin told her. The abduction of the mutant named Yeojin, the possible coverup by the police, everything. 

It amazed her that merely a few months ago, the news that a mutant had been abducted would have been brushed off by her. It was considered to be something that happened regularly, and something that was justified, for that matter. Now, though, Yerim felt tense and itchy, sitting around and doing nothing while she could be doing something. Jinsoul and Jungeun had similar reactions, and were equally concerned upon hearing about Yeojin’s disappearance. Jinsoul told Yerim that they needed to do more research and investigation before rushing into anything, as that would surely lead to disaster if they bit off anything too large to chew. Yerim knew that, and that they were better off prepared, but she still hated sitting around while someone was suffering without their help. 

Indeed, a few months ago she would never have thought to care about the abductions of mutants, and she most definitely would not have thought she would be proactively searching for ways to help them. After Jinsoul had agreed to help Yerim learn and control her abilities, Yerim had discovered that she used to work for the Mutant Liberation Front, an underground resistance organization that fought for mutant rights. Of course, until their headquarters were destroyed. Jinsoul told them she believed herself to be the sole survivor, having been out on a mission the day it happened.

Jinsoul let slip that she was investigating a project that was being conducted to create technology that could identify carriers of the X-gene. She was only passing through Yerim’s town, after all. Both Yerim and Jungeun told Jinsoul they wanted to travel with her, even at the risk of their safety. Yerim’s life had practically been turned upside down once she realized who she was, and the way she saw it, she didn’t have anything holding her to the town aside from bad memories. As for Jungeun, well, she had grown attached to Jinsoul during their short time together, and was equally invested in her desire to fight for the rights of everyone everywhere who was like them.

That pretty much brought them up to the present. Yerim wondered what she would have done if someone like Jinsoul hadn’t come along to help her learn about her powers. She shuddered to think that maybe someone would have figured it out before her—someone with the motivation to turn her over to the state officials. She was really glad it had been Jinsoul first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! So we've met Haseul and learned about Yeojin! Though it's not a happy meeting...  
> In case you couldn't tell, a lot of inspiration for this story comes from the Loonaverse.
> 
> Insta - @ace.aesthetics  
> Twitter - @kitkat_tat


	3. Raison D'être

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was honestly scared to read over what I had written for this chapter like a month ago, but it's actually not that bad! Hope you enjoy~

Yeojin stared up at the white ceiling in silence. Her brown hair fanned out on the thin pillow beneath her head, and her hands lay crossed over her stomach. Her eyes were dull, unseeing. She had been staring up at the same ceiling for what seemed to be an eternity. Had it been weeks? Months? She lost count. If she wasn’t staring at the ceiling, she was sleeping, and even the nights and days blurred together because she didn’t have any windows in her room. There was no way to tell one passing second from the next.

She closed her eyes and then turned her head to look at the door across the room. It was the only source of color in the entire room, whose walls, ceiling, and floor were all painted white. Even the bed frame and sheets were stark white. Unlike the rest of the room, the door was grey and slightly rusted. The metal was heavy—Yeojin could tell whenever it was opened. Clearly, it was built for someone much stronger than herself.

Sometimes, if she listened closely, she could hear the guards when they walked past, their heavy boots thudding against the concrete floor. She shuddered whenever they drew particularly close, tensing at the thought of the heavy door swinging open. Swinging open. Just like that fateful day.

Yeojin had been excitedly anticipating the arrival of her best friend. She texted Haseul to tell her to hurry up, her impatience getting the best of her, even though she didn’t expect her to arrive for another few minutes. 

She had just finished mixing the cookie dough, and was getting a baking sheet out of the cupboard, when she heard the front door fly open. Startled, Yeojin dropped the baking sheet on the ground, the loud clang resounding throughout her uncle’s apartment. 

Several people flooded into the room, all dressed in strange uniforms that reminded her of janitorial outfits worn in movies. Confused, she stepped back, reaching for her phone. All of a sudden, she felt a sharp prick in her neck, quickly followed by the world falling into darkness as she collapsed on the kitchen tiles.

The next thing she knew, she was staring up at a white ceiling. Yeojin had leapt off the bed and run over to the door, pounding on the cold metal until her hands were red and raw. She shouted for help, for someone to save her, but nobody came. She screamed and shouted until her voice was raspy and hoarse. Then she sunk down to the floor and lay there in a heap. She cried until the tears dried on her face.

She was lying in the exact same spot the first time they came for her. Heavy boots thudded against the concrete outside, and the metal door was slowly pushed open. Yeojin sat up, her heart racing. She scrambled backwards across the floor until her back collided with the metal bed frame, but it was no use. Two strong hands gripped her arms and dragged her from the room, deaf to her pleas.

They brought her to a room with a table and a chair and told her to sit. She did as she was told, and the guards left. She could still feel their grip around her arms even after they closed the door. 

Yeojin looked around frantically, taking in her new surroundings. In front of her, a potted plant sat on the table, its leaves wilting and brown. On the wall facing her, was a giant window, and on the other side, stood half a dozen adults wearing white lab coats and carrying clipboards. One of them pressed a button and began speaking into a microphone. Yeojin flinched when the voice came through an old speaker positioned in the corner of the ceiling.

He barked harsh instructions at her. Something about using her abilities. She didn’t remember exactly what. She was being tested. It was important. The people on the other side of the glass were watching her expectantly.

Yeojin looked down at the plant in front of her, which was clearly on the verge of death. Haseul had taught her that house plants could still grow if there was a little bit of green left in the leaves. If there wasn’t, though, it was too late. Yeojin didn’t have to look closely to know that this plant was going to die.

She took a deep breath and placed her hands in front of the plant. At first, she felt nothing, just the cold chair beneath her and the stares of the scientists against her skin. Then, a slight tug against her heart. 

Yeojin concentrated, focusing her attention on only the plant. She could feel the roots and the stem and the leaves, weakly fighting to stay upright. Yeojin took a deep breath in, and when she let it out, she expelled her energy into the plant. With her eyes firmly shut, she didn’t see the green color return to the plant, or the leaves unfurl to their former, full selves.

When Yeojin weakly opened her eyes, the plant was alive again. On the other side of the glass, the scientists hastily scribbled notes on their clipboards. One of them said something over the speaker, but Yeojin didn’t hear what he said, her ears ringing. 

The guards opened the door once more and pulled her back to her room. They gripped her arms mercilessly, but she was too tired to fight, and simply let her feet slide across the floor. They dropped her on the floor of her room and closed the door, indefinitely for all she knew. Yeojin barely had enough strength to walk to her bed and collapse under the stiff sheets.

The next time the door opened, Yeojin was awake, and quickly stood upright as the two guards entered her room. They grabbed her arms but she managed to stay on her feet, regaining the tiniest bit of her dignity.

She studied her surroundings more this time around. In the hall where her room was, there were endless doors identical to hers. It was impossible to tell if anyone was behind them, though. They turned a corner and walked past many windows with scientists running experiments behind them. Then they stopped and she was brought into the same room as she had last time. She sat down in the chair, but instead of a wilting plant in front of her, a bird in a cage sat on the table.

The man instructed her on what to do once more, and Yeojin held her hands out in front of her. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, trying to connect to the bird, but she couldn’t feel any connection. She opened her eyes and looked at the tiny bird in front of her, its wing bent and crooked as it stuck out from its side. Yeojin set her hands down on the table in defeat. She sat there for a while, and eventually the guards returned to grab her.

That was how Yeojin grew to learn the extent of her abilities. The scientists forced her to undergo countless tests and experiments; for what purpose, she didn’t know. Usually, if she was successful in whatever it is they were looking for or wanted her to do, she would be rewarded with food. If she was unsuccessful, she was dragged away on an empty stomach. 

She learned that she had the ability to give life to things, however the circumstances were highly specific. She could only give life to objects that had previously been alive, but not if they had been without life for a long time. She couldn’t heal animals that sustained minor injuries, like the bird with the broken wing, because its life hadn’t been in peril. However, she could restore the life of a plant or animal whose sickness or ailment was about to overtake them.

When Yeojin had first discovered that she was a mutant, her friends had wondered if she possessed the ability to heal people. When she was around seven years old, she had been riding her bike around the neighborhood when she discovered a frog on the side of the road. It was injured, and its chest was moving up and down rapidly. Yeojin had thrown her bike on the ground and rushed over to it. She knew she was too late, though, because it suddenly stopped moving.

Haseul had found Yeojin crying on the sidewalk and immediately ran over, thinking she had fallen off her bike. She crouched down by her friend to find her cupping a frog in her hands.

“Yeojin?” Hasel asked, “What’s wrong?”

But Yeojin wouldn’t answer her—she was crying too hard. Until she opened her eyes to look down at the frog crouching in her palms. She gasped, unable to understand how the animal was still alive.

When she returned to her friend’s house, Haseul told her she might have healed the frog. At the time, Yeojin believed her. But thinking back on it now, she remembered distinctly seeing the frog die before her.

Yeojin opened her eyes, pulling herself back to the present. She didn’t even remember closing them. 

Haseul’s face floated in front of Yeojin’s eyes before disappearing. Yeojin sighed, missing her friend deeply. She wanted to be with her, baking cookies and watching cheesy dramas on the floor of her living room. She thought back to the day when she invited Haseul over, the day when she was kidnapped. She thought back to how her best friend was only minutes away from arriving at her apartment. What if she had been there earlier? Yeojin felt ice flood her veins at the thought of her friend being stuck in the same place as her. She hadn’t seen any other captives in the building, and she prayed that Haseul had been lucky enough to arrive late to her apartment.

The sound of the door unlocking startled Yeojin out of her thoughts. She had been so far inside her own head that she had failed to hear the guards approaching outside of her door. Quickly, she sat up just as her door swung open, revealing the men suited in uniforms on the other side.

“Come with us.” One of them said in a gruff voice.

Yeojin stood, trying to stop her hands from shaking as she approached them. She stepped out into the hallway, slightly surprised that they hadn’t grabbed her yet, though not surprised that they were training their weapons on her instead.

One of them closed the door to her room behind her and ordered her to follow the guard in front of her. 

She did as she was told. She had quickly learned that things turned out better for her if she complied rather than fought back. So Yeojin followed the guard down the familiar hallways with the second guard pointing his gun at her back. 

Rather than take her to the same test room, however, she was led down a different hallway. She looked at the rooms as they passed. They were much bigger than the other ones she had seen, and were filled with expensive equipment, though none of them were occupied.

Finally, they arrived at a different room. Yeojin stood in front of the door, steeling herself for whatever was on the other side before the guard who had been walking in front of her opened it.

Inside, the room was much bigger than she anticipated. There were tons of scientists, all wearing lab coats and calibrating machines around the room. As Yeojin walked inside, she turned around to see several spectators lining the walls and conversing with each other. Whatever it was that was scheduled to happen, it had to be big. 

Yeojin tore her eyes away from the people and shifted her focus to the center of the room. A huddle of scientists were standing around a table, attaching rods and wires to something that lay on top of it. As Yeojin was led closer and closer, they eventually stepped away to reveal the pale body of a girl.

Yeojin gasped at the sight, unable to control herself. In front of her was the body of a teenage girl with pink hair and sickly pale skin. It was so pale, it almost had a grey tint. Yeojin watched as the scientists continued to hook up wires between the girl and the computers, when suddenly she realized that the girl wasn’t even a girl to begin with. She was a robot.

The guards moved away from her as she stood frozen, staring at the girl on the table. Her eyes were closed, making her look peaceful. Almost. There was something familiar about her, yet Yeojin couldn’t place her finger on it.

A scientist moved so he was standing across the table from Yeojin. He was the same one who always gave her instructions in the other testing room, and this instance was no different. He told her that she must use her abilities to give the girl on the table life. If she succeeded, she would be rewarded. But she would get more than food—she would be rewarded with her own freedom.

Yeojin couldn’t breath. If she succeeded, she would be free. After all the tests and experiments, she would finally be allowed to go home. But she had no idea how to make the robot lying on the table wake up. She had never been tested on anything so big before. She looked around at the scientists jotting down notes and checking the computer readings. She looked at the spectators, staring down at her like an insect. She looked back at the scientist across from her, who had her fixed in his steely gaze.

Taking a deep breath, Yeojin placed her palms above the girl on the table and closed her eyes.

At first, she felt nothing. There was only cold, darkness, that seemed to extend forever. Ice crept into Yeojin’s veins, and fear began to flood her heart. She felt so alone and scared.

Then, a small flicker of orange light appeared amidst the darkness. It flickered again, this time growing into a larger flame. It slowly grew and grew until the darkness was almost completely gone, replaced with warmth. Yeojin no longer felt alone and afraid.

Around Yeojin, the scientists and spectators alike were muttering with wonder and amazement. From beneath her palms, magnificent pink and orange light was bursting into the room. Slowly, color started to enter the cheeks of the girl lying on the table. Her skin no longer held its grey pallor, instead becoming pinker as it filled with life.

Suddenly, the light faltered as Yeojin let out a cry of pain. Sweat was collecting on her forehead, and her legs swayed beneath her, though her eyes were still firmly shut. 

As the girl began to crumple to the ground, one of the scientists rushed forward to support her. He grabbed her arm to steady her.

On instinct, Yeojin latched onto the hand of the man who had rushed to assist her, immediately standing upright once more. She poured the rest of her energy into the girl on the table, brilliant light filling the entire room before finally fading.

Her ears were ringing. Someone was screaming. 

Yeojin looked down at the girl on the table. She looked… lighter. Color had entered her lips and cheeks. She no longer looked dead, just asleep.

As Yeojin began to register the sights and sounds around her, she realized something was horribly wrong. People were shouting around her, though she couldn’t tell why. There was a wetness on her face. Was it sweat? She couldn’t tell.

She stepped away from the table, her vision suddenly swimming. Her foot hit something soft on the ground, and when she looked down, she wished she could have passed out right then and there.

Strong hands wrapped around her arms and dragged her out of the room. She couldn’t feel anything. Her mind felt like it was floating out of her body. And someone was still screaming.

Yeojin saw the man’s face in her mind, twisted up in pain as life was literally sucked out of him. He wilted like the plant Yeojin had restored the first time she had been brought to the room to be tested. Yeojin had done that, with her own hands, and that was when she realized she was the one screaming.

* * *

Jinsoul sat back in her chair and blew the air out of her cheeks. She had been sitting in the town library for the past few hours, sifting through all of the local records and newspapers from the past few years. So far, she hadn’t found much. But then again, she didn’t expect to.

A few days ago, Yerim had found Jinsoul and Jungeun in the hallway during their lunch break. She told them everything she had learned during her confrontation with Heejin, and how Heejin’s friend, who was a mutant like them, had gone missing. Her theory about the corporation’s involvement and cover-up with the police had left Jinsoul with much to think about. With no immediate answers, she hit the books, or in this case, newspapers, for information.

She rubbed her eyes before resuming her reading of a news article posted a few months back. The topic was a girl who had gone missing before the end of the school year. The article didn’t provide any identifying features, and so Jinsoul scrolled past to find the next one.

She had been hoping to find some information on the corporation that was located at the edge of the town, but she hadn’t uncovered anything that even proved its existence. The only evidence she had was a blurred aerial view of the property site. She couldn’t even find the name of it. 

When she had worked for the Mutant Liberation Front, she had specialized in technology and extraction. She was one of their best hackers, and their computers had access to software that could tiptoe past firewalls and authorization codes. Now, sitting at an ancient public library desktop, the technology wouldn’t be able to grant her access to anything more than public knowledge.

Sighing, Jinsoul cleared the browser history and shut off the computer. It was getting late into the afternoon, and her friends were probably wondering where she was.

Jinsoul stood up from the computers and walked towards the back of the library to where the bathrooms were located. She peeked her head inside the women’s restroom to make sure the coast was clear. Then she slipped into a stall and closed the door without locking it.

She felt a quick rush of air against her face as she teleported out of the bathroom and into the kitchen area of the house they were staying in. Jungeun, who had been rinsing out a cup by the sink when Jinsoul arrived, jumped slightly when she noticed her presence.

“Hey,” Jungeun said, smiling. “How did your research go?”

“I didn’t find much, just a couple of reports about missing students.” Jinsoul said, her eyebrows furrowing. “I’ll probably go back tomorrow and continue browsing.”

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.” Jungeun said, walking over to stand closer to Jinsoul, who smiled softly. Jungeun was a bright light in her life; her company always made Jinsoul feel exponentially better.

“Just lay low and listen to the conversations of the community. Even if they don’t know exactly what’s going on, I’m sure they’ve noticed changes.”

Jungeun nodded, not particularly satisfied by the answer, but not wanting to push her friend to accept her help either.

“Where’s Yerim?” Jinsoul asked.

“Not sure.” Jungeun said. “I think she might be taking a nap in the other room.”

As soon as the words left her lips, both girls turned at the sound of thudding footsteps running across the wooden floorboards. Yerim rushed into the room, slightly breathless, as if she had just run a fair distance. She looked up at her friends, her eyes wide.

“What’s wrong?” Jungeun asked while the younger girl composed herself.

“I was just in the dreamscape. And I was walking across the hills when the sky suddenly turned orange.” Yerim said frantically. “It was like a huge burst of energy, flying toward me. And when it hit me, I woke up.”

“So… what was it?” Jinsoul pressed.

Yerim looked down at her feet, a strand of brown hair falling in front of her face. Then she met Jinsoul’s eyes, and the older girl saw the conflict and pain brimming in them. 

“I think it was Yeojin.” Yerim said softly. “I mean, I’ve never met her before so I don’t really know. But I do know where it came from. And even if it isn’t her, shouldn’t we check it out anyways?”

“Woah, woah, slow down. We’ll definitely investigate it, but from a distance first. We should gather more information before we rush over there blindly.” Jinsoul said calmly.

“But if it’s Yeojin we need to go get her! What if she’s in danger?” Yerim said, wringing her hands together.

“Yerim.” Jinsoul approached her and placed her hand on the younger girl’s shoulder. “We are going to find Yeojin, and we are going to investigate this energy surge, but we are going to act carefully.”

Yerim looked between Jinsoul and Jungeun before nodding.

“You should get some rest.” Jungeun said, looking at the bags under the younger girl’s eyes. “And that means no trips to the dreamscape. You need to give your mind a break.”

Yerim gave her an unimpressed look as if to ask why she was suddenly playing the maternal figure in her life, even though she knew she had a point. With a huff, she exited the room, leaving Jinsoul and Jungeun to themselves once more.

Jungeun turned to Jinsoul. “What do you think could’ve caused that?” She asked quietly.

Jinsoul simply shrugged. “It could have been anything. If Yerim registered it, I’m guessing it was the work of a mutant, and probably a fairly powerful one at that.”

“So what are we going to do?”

“More research.” Jinsoul sighed, crossing her arms. “If Yerim’s theories are correct, and Yeojin is connected to this nameless corporation on the edge of town, then we’ll organize a rescue mission for her. I can’t imagine what reason an anti-mutant organization would have to treat her nicely, after all.”

Jungeun nodded in silent agreement. “And if the two aren’t connected?”

“We should still investigate anyways. Who knows? It may be the lead we’re looking for.”

* * *

The next day, Jinsoul went to a nearby atm and withdrew the rest of the money from her savings account and took it to an electronics store to buy a new laptop. She didn’t need anything fancy, just the right software to get the job done. Her last one had unfortunately been destroyed along with the MLF headquarters, so she had no other options.

She took it to a cafe near the center of the town and sat down at a table in the corner with the cheapest tea on the menu. Jinsoul took a sip of the fragrant tea as the laptop booted up. Once she installed a VPN and opened up an onion router, she took a flash drive out of her backpack and inserted it into the computer. It was the last of the files she had saved from her old projects: folders and archives and databases of information she had stolen during her time with the Liberation Front. 

Jinsoul scrolled through the copious amounts of information, her eyes flitting back and forth across the screen rapidly. She was searching for anything specifically related to the corporation at the edge of town—of which she still had no name for. Her mouse hovered above a title: Project Polaris. Underneath was a picture of a group of scientists.

Project Polaris had been her previous subject of investigation half a year ago. It was a project designed to track and exterminate mutants, publicized as an identification tool for carriers of the X-gene, specifically. Jinsoul had been assigned to the team in charge of investigating it.

She opened up a new browser and began typing into the search engine for anything related. As she sifted through the results, one interesting name popped up. The first experiment conducted for the project, funded by the South Korean government, was done by BbCorp. Jinsoul frowned at the name, wondering why she had never heard of them before.

She did some more research on the group. What she found was a history of governmentally funded projects for military weaponry. The projects started at the turn of the century, but for some reason, there was no coverage of their activities past the previous year. It was as if they had just disappeared. Jinsoul read into the most recent project, which detailed a new type of weaponry that could adapt to the surrounding environment. According to the article, the project had been a bust, and a waste of government money. Perhaps that was why they disappeared, thought Jinsoul, because the government had stopped funding them.

Jinsoul took a sip of her tea before she suddenly frowned. There was a picture embedded in the article that showed two men shaking hands and smiling at the camera. The one on the left wore a long, white lab coat. Jinsoul opened the article on the Polaris Project and nearly choked on her tea. The head scientist in the picture was the same one in the article featuring BbCorp’s project failure. 

Suddenly, everything made sense. Jinsoul saved the most recent article about BbCorp’s project. Then she quickly finished her tea and cleared her cup before packing up her things. She exited through the back door of the cafe, and once she was sure no one was looking, teleported back to the house. 

This time, it was Yerim she startled as she appeared in the dimly lit living space of the house. Yerim jumped in her seat on the couch and pressed her hand against her chest where her heart beat frantically.

“Oh, gosh, you scared me.” The younger girl said, looking up at Jinsoul with wide eyes.

“Sorry about that.” Jinsoul said, cringing. She slipped the backpack off her shoulders and sat down on the couch next to Yerim. She took her laptop out and placed it on the coffee table in front of them, illuminating their faces in the bright glow.

“Okay so I found something while I was searching through my old databases.” Jinsoul began, pulling up the article about the Polaris Project to show Yerim, who leaned in to look at it. 

“This lead scientist here.” Jinsoul said, pointing. “He’s the same scientist who ran a bunch of projects for BbCorp that were funded by the government.”

“BbCorp?” Yerim asked. “Who’s that?”

Jinsoul pulled up the article she had saved earlier that featured the lead scientist of the Polaris Project. “I don’t know too much about them,” she admitted, “just that they developed a lot of military weaponry. About a year ago, one of their projects fell through and I’m assuming the government stopped funding them, because their name practically disappeared.”

“Wait, then what is that scientist doing working on the other project?” Yerim asked.

“Well, I was thinking, what if BbCorp only used the military weapons as a cover for the actual projects they were working on?” Jinsoul said. “Like the Polaris Project.”

“Then…you don’t think they could be the ones behind Yeojin’s disappearance too?” Yerim asked quietly.

Jinsoul nodded grimly. “That’s exactly what I’m thinking.”

Yerim sat in silence, taking in the new information. The thought of the young girl being involved with the scientists only made Yerim want to rescue her more.

“I know where she is.” Yerim blurted out. 

Jinsoul’s eyes widened slightly. “How do you know where? Was it that same energy pulse you felt yesterday?”

Yerim nodded quickly. “I… followed it after it faded in the sky. It was mostly gone, but there was still a trail. I followed it because I knew the source must be nearby.” She explained. “It brought me to a field surrounded by trees. There was all this blinding light, and then I saw a girl lying on the ground, sleeping.”

“You’re sure it’s her?” Jinsoul asked.

Yerim nodded again.

“And if you were given a map, could you find it?”

Another nod.

Jinsoul paused, thinking. “Did you go looking for her when Jungeun specifically told you to rest?”

When Yerim didn’t respond, Jinsoul raised her eyebrow.

“Well I found her, didn’t I?” Yerim huffed, crossing her arms. She was willing to risk her health if it meant saving this girl, though Jinsoul and Jungeun didn’t seem to understand that.

Jinsoul studied the younger girl for a moment before smiling warmly. “Yes, you did, good job.”

Yerim perked up at the praise. It was the first time Jinsoul had commended her for her abilities since she met her in the coffee shop that fateful morning. 

“So does this mean we’re going to rescue her now?” Yerim asked.

Jinsoul nodded, her expression serious once more. 

“What’s going on out here?” Jungeun yawned, shuffling out of the bedroom. Yerim and Jinsoul turned to look at the sleepy girl who was rubbing her eyes after a midday nap.

“Oh, we were just talking about rescuing Yeojin.” Jinsoul said. “I gained some insight on a possible location and I want to go investigate it as soon as possible.”

Jungeun lowered her hand, now fully awake. “You’re not thinking of going alone, are you?”

“Maybe.” Jinsoul said lightly. 

“Jinsoul.” Jungeun began. “It’s dangerous to do that. Neither of us want you to get hurt.”

“I know how dangerous it is.” Jinsoul said, frowning. “That’s why I  _ have _ to go alone. I don’t want either of you to get hurt either.”

Yerim bit her bottom lip as she looked between her two friends. They were staring at each other, unmoving.

Jungeun finally sighed as she crossed her arms. “At least take me with you as backup.”

Jinsoul shook her head stubbornly. “I’m going to teleport in and out of there once I find the girl. I can move past physical obstacles, but you can’t I’m sorry but… you would only slow me down.”

Jungeun bit the inside of her cheek, soaking in the words. They stung a bit. It hurt that Jinsoul didn’t think her help was needed, and that her presence would only impede the mission, yet she also couldn’t deny the logic in her statement. Jungeun swallowed down her frustration and sat on the arm of the couch instead.

“I can’t believe you just put me and ‘slow’ in the same sentence.” Jungeun joked, chuckling halfheartedly. “Take it back.”

Jinsoul searched her eyes, a hopeful smile creeping onto her face. “Alright, I take it back. Sorry Jungeunie.” Jinsoul teased, playfully pushing the other girl. 

“I suppose you can have my forgiveness.” Jungeun said, playing along.

Yerim felt the tension slowly leave her chest as she watched her friends banter with each other, no longer arguing. Whenever they got into a disagreement, it never lasted long, and Yerim was thankful for that. 

Jungeun cleared her throat, gathering the attention of the two girls next to her. “Well, I don’t like you going alone.” She told Jinsoul softly. “But I guess you’re right. I would only slow you down, so I understand.”

Jinsoul nodded, resting her hand on Jungeun’s arm. “I promise to be careful.” She said.

Jungeun seemed to be content with that. Then she turned her attention to Yerim and raised an eyebrow. 

“I thought you were supposed to be resting between searching for Yeojin.” She said. Yerim’s jaw dropped slightly.

“How did you know?” She asked.

“The bags under your eyes have gotten worse.” Jungeun deadpanned. “You should stay home from school tomorrow and rest.”

Yerim smiled widely. “Works for me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ending on a happy note! I love OEC friendship. Well, I love each of the subunit friendships, for the record.  
> But anyways, quite a bit of angst for this chapter. I say that as if all of my chapters haven't been angsty as hell. This one actually had more lighthearted content! Enjoy it while it lasts haha.  
> Who is the robot girl? Pretty obvious but whatever. You'll find out in a week! Yes, I'm gonna update every week now that my finals are over and I'm unemployed.
> 
> Insta - @ace.aesthetics  
> Twitter - @kitkat_tat


	4. Hiraeth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It feels like ages since I last posted, but it's only been a week.  
> Warning: there's a bit of violence in this chapter, but it's not too graphic! No blood or anything, just people getting tossed around, hehe ;)

_ Power stores fully charged. Systems booting up. 3...2...1. Systems fully operational. _

Vivi slowly blinked her eyes open, looking around. She was laying on a metal table in the center of a large room. The walls were tiled, and the ceiling rose above her in a sort of dome shape. Nearby, several machines buzzed and whirred, the noise filling her ears. She turned her head to the right where two scientists were standing. One of them typed something into a computer while the other jotted notes down on a clipboard.

Vivi sat upright, her pink hair falling against her back. She noticed that there were cords and wires attached to her arms and chest, effectively hooking her up to the noisy machines nearby. 

She tried to remember what she had been doing before she woke up in the room, but when she tried to recall her memories, they were blank. That was odd. Surely she must have come from somewhere if she had the body of a teenager and a name. It wasn’t like she had been born yesterday, right?

Vivi looked down at her hands, first staring at the palms and then turning them over to examine their backs. Nothing was wrong with them—she had all five fingers. Then she pinched her thigh to see if she was dreaming. She didn’t feel any pain, just a dull thrum that resonated from the spot, which didn’t reassure her. In dreams, people often had extra fingers. They also couldn’t read numbers or letters. Vivi looked up, scanning the room. On the wall to her right, a clock was mounted high up. She sighed in relief when she could tell that the time was 7:51. Her relief didn’t last long, however, when she remembered she still didn’t know where she was, who she was, or how she knew about the identifying factors of dreams.

One of the scientists noticed Vivi sitting up and walked over to her, flipping to a new page on his clipboard. “Subject 005 is awake.” He said to his colleague. Then he looked down at the watch on his wrist and recorded the time. Vivi turned her head to look at the nametag on his shirt that read “Dr. Kim.” 

The scientist continued to read the vitals on the machine monitors and record them. Vivi looked to his colleague, who was still typing into her computer. 

Vivi then looked down at the wires protruding from her skin again. Wrinkling her nose, she subconsciously moved her hand to pull one out.

“Don’t touch those.” Dr. Kim said, now facing Vivi.

She slowly lowered her hand down to the table. There were a thousand questions threatening to spill out of her mouth, and so she decided to settle for the simplest one that came to mind. “Who am I?” Vivi asked the man, who raised his eyebrows a little.

Dr. Kim scribbled a note on his clipboard, muttering the words as he wrote them. “Subject… is… self-aware. Very interesting.” He hummed, not answering her question.

“Where am I?” She asked, trying a different approach. 

The man hummed, jotting another note before beginning to remove the wires and cords from her skin. She winced, expecting to feel pain, but didn’t feel anything. When he was finished, he picked up his clipboard once more.

“Follow me, Subject 005.” He said. As he approached the other scientist, he said, “I will be conducting basic strength examinations in room 103.”

Vivi figured she had no other choice but to follow the man out the room. She was still intent on getting answers, so maybe if she just did what he asked, she would eventually get them. As she walked out of the room, the two guards that had been stationed outside the door began to follow her.

Dr. Kim entered a new room, and Vivi followed him inside. Various exercise machines were set up so that the room looked like a gym. Dr. Kim strode over to one of the machines and began to set it up. Vivi looked back at the doorway to see that the two guards were now stationed on either side of it inside the room. She frowned, wondering exactly why they were there.

“We are going to evaluate you on your speed now.” Dr. Kim said, drawing Vivi’s attention to the treadmill in front of him. “Run as fast as you can, for as long as you can.”

Vivi walked over to the treadmill and stood on the band, doing as he instructed. The scientist stood off to the side, holding a timer in his hand. When he looked up at Vivi expectantly, she started to run. 

First she started off slow, just jogging in place. The belt of the treadmill moved only slightly faster than she did, designed to move with the movements of its user. She then started to speed up, wondering just how fast she could actually run. 

_ Diverting power to thighs. 3...2...1. Power at maximum level. _

Vivi didn’t know how fast she was running. All she knew was that it was much faster than the average human could run. And definitely much faster than she had ever run in her life. 

She sustained the pace for a few more minutes before she could feel her energy levels depleting, and so she slowed down. Dr. Kim clicked the timer and as always, jotted down his notes on his clipboard.

After she was tested on her speed, the scientist evaluated her for her upper and lower body strength. She lifted over two hundred pounds, climbed to the top of a rock wall in ten seconds, and climbed a rope in twenty. Everything she did should not have been possible, yet somehow was.

Vivi lowered herself back to the ground, her endless questions still unanswered. Dr. Kim was still scribbling down notes as Vivi approached him, wondering what the next test would be. 

Without looking up, Dr. Kim clicked his pen. “These are all the tests we will be conducting today. Follow me to your charging chamber.” He said, walking off.

Vivi followed him, noticing the guards from earlier trailing behind them as they walked down the hallway. She wondered if they were there for protection, but then if that was the case, who were they protecting who from?

They eventually entered a room lined with silver, cylindrical pods. Dr. Kim walked up to one and typed a code into it. The doors opened with a hiss, and the scientist stepped back, motioning for Vivi to enter the pod. She looked at it questioningly. He had said it was a charging chamber, so it must function to replenish her energy levels.

Vivi climbed inside and rested her back against the metal interior. A plug connected to a port at the back of her neck that she hadn’t even been aware of.

_ Energy charge initializing. _

Dr. Kim closed the doors of the pod, and Vivi watched him and the two guards leave. Her eyes eventually slipped shut as she fell into a sort of subconscious state, void of dreams.

* * *

The next time she woke, she was greeted by a different scientist. She typed in the code and the pod doors hissed open once more. Vivi’s eyes fluttered open as she was brought back to the present. She removed the plug from the back of her neck and stepped out of the pod.

_ Power stores fully charged. _

“Good morning.” The woman said, closing the pod doors. Her voice was neutral. “My name is Dr. Park, and I will be conducting your intelligence and identification exams.”

Vivi nodded, following her out of the room. While she was no more friendly than the other scientist, Vivi wondered if maybe Dr. Park would be more willing to answer her questions. 

“Where am I?” Vivi asked the woman walking in front of her.

“There is no need to concern yourself with that now.” The woman said without turning around. Vivi felt slightly annoyed with her response, but she supposed it was better than nothing. The two of them continued walking until the woman opened a door and entered a new room. Inside were several rows of desks in front of a screen. Dr. Park instructed her to sit at one and she did as she was told.

“Who am I?” Vivi asked.

The woman looked up from her clipboard to study her curiously this time. “You are an android, the first of your kind.”

Her answer made Vivi’s mind reel. She was a robot? No—an android. And the first of her kind. What did that mean? Was she not human? She looked human, or, at least she thought that she did. She hadn’t yet looked in a mirror since she woke up the other day, but her arms and legs looked normal.

“Why?” Vivi asked.

“You were created with the purpose of tracking down and eliminating mutant life forms.” Dr. Park explained, as if the ordeal was a simple matter.

Oh, Vivi thought. 

“Why?”

Dr. Park sighed this time. “There is no need to concern yourself, Subject 005. All you need to know is your purpose and mission. Nothing else. Now, let’s begin the examination.”

Vivi bit down on her tongue, slightly frustrated, but followed the woman’s instructions. Over the next hour, she was shown a series of images and asked to identify which of the people in them were mutants. Vivi correctly identified all of them, passing the test. When she looked at the pictures, the people who were carrying the X-gene had a faint outline around them, as if she could see their auras. 

It was kind of amazing how just the single difference in chromosomes could alter a person’s entire genome. There really wasn’t a huge scientific difference between mutants and humans, yet at the end of the day, they were classified in two different ways. 

Once Dr. Park had finished evaluating Vivi, she brought her back to the room with the domed ceiling. She was placed in a chair and hooked up to several machines as a few scientists clustered around her to test her programs.

Vivi noticed Dr. Park speaking with another scientist on the other side of the room, showing him her notes from earlier. Upon closer inspection, she realized he was Dr. Kim, the scientist who had run her physical tests. Vivi tried to make out what they were saying, keeping her eyes on the floor to appear inconspicuous.

_ Focusing hearing. _

“...questions, then the next course of action may be to restart the project.” Dr. Park was saying. 

“We can’t restart, we’ve invested too much already.” Dr. Kim responded.

“Then maybe consider reprogramming her knowledge.” Dr. Park said coldly. “An artificially intelligent being poses a threat to us, and we were only instructed to develop a camouflaged soldier.”

“The more knowledgeable, the better she’ll be able to blend in with humans.” Dr. Kim argued.

Dr. Park glanced over at Vivi, whose eyes were still trained on the floor. “And how do we know that they will be obedient to the cause?”

Vivi didn’t get a chance to hear what Dr. Kim’s answer to that question was, because all of a sudden an alarm began to blare overhead. All of the scientists looked around in shock, wondering what was happening.

* * *

Yeojin woke up with a start, goraning. Her head throbbed like it was going to explode, and she could feel her heart rate increase as she slowly started to gain consciousness. 

Her eyes remained firmly shut against the harsh light from the ceiling. Instead, she tried to lift her arms, but they lay aching at her sides like deadweights. Yeojin groaned again, turning on her side to try to get into a more comfortable position so she could slip into unconsciousness once more. She just wanted the pain to stop.

Her mind seemed to have other plans though, as the events from the previous day began to replay. The robotic girl on the table. Her weak legs that felt like they could collapse under her at any moment. The crumpled body on the ground. Her cries echoing down the sterile hallways.

Yeojin curled up into herself, despite the protest of her weak limbs. Hot tears pooled against the corners of her eyes and soaked the thin pillow beneath her cheek. She had always thought of her powers as more of a blessing than a curse, unlike others. She had the ability to give things life. She could keep flowers fresh for weeks and cure sick animals. But what she had done yesterday, hung over her chest like a dark cloud. It wasn’t a blessing. She had hurt someone. Permanently. 

She screwed her eyes even tighter, clutching her knees to her chest as the pain in her heart grew. Her cries made her head pound even more, but she couldn’t stop. 

Eventually, her eyes ran dry of tears, and she laid there, whimpering in misery. As her crying began to die down, she started to realize what had woken her up. A far-off alarm was ringing through the building, but she hadn’t noticed, the pain wracking her body and mind occupying her attention. 

Yeojin looked over at the door on the other side of her room. The metal slot was shut, and for what she could tell, there was no one moving around outside in the hallway. 

Another thing that seemed to occur to her only after the fact, was that the scientists had broken their ‘promise’ with her. She had given life to the robot girl on the table. Maybe they had gone back on their word. Maybe they were never planning on releasing her to begin with. After all, why would they just let her run off into the world when she could expose them for everything they had done? Yeojin chided herself for ever thinking she might have a chance to be free.

Loud shouts echoed in the hallway, cutting across Yeojin’s thoughts. She sat up in her bed, which made her headache even worse. She rubbed her temples slightly in an attempt to ease the pain, swinging her legs over the side of the bed to touch the floor.

All of a sudden, the noise outside stopped. Yeojin tensed, unsure what to expect on the other side of the door. Whatever was happening, she wanted to be prepared for the worst. She dared to hope that whatever was happening would simply pass by her. 

With a bang that made Yeojin flinch, the slot in the door opened, revealing two eyes. They peered in, widening once they saw the frail girl inside.

In the next instant, a girl materialized inside Yeojin’s room. Yeojin jumped, leaning away from her apprehensively. She was tall and slim, with long, wavy blonde hair that cascaded down her back. Her beautiful features were creased with worry and seriousness.

When she saw Yeojin leaning away from her, the girl put her hands out in front of her. 

“You’re Yeojin, right?” the girl asked. Yeojin nodded slowly. “I’m here to rescue you.”

Yeojin just stared at her in shock. She didn’t know how to process her words after spending countless days locked in the same room without so much as a window. 

When she saw that Yeojin remained just as apprehensive, the girl tried to approach her, lowering her body so they were at the same level.

“I know you don’t know who I am, but I know your friend, Heejin.” she said softly. “My name is Jung Jinsoul, and I’m a mutant, just like the two of you. That’s how I was able to teleport into here. I can teleport us both to a safe location and make sure these people will never find you again.”

Yeojin didn’t say anything for a moment. She wanted to trust the girl so badly, she wanted to leave and never return, but a small voice in the back of her mind held her back. The thought of leaving forever nearly caused tears to well up in her eyes. She thought of her friends, Haseul, Heejin, and Hyunjin, and how she desperately wanted to see them again. But a more sinister thought crept up at the back of her mind. If the scientists had found Yeojin, she didn’t think it improbable that they could also find her friends. The thought of her friends being captured too made her sick. What if they were using her friends’ names to trick her? 

Yeojin shook her head vigorously. “If this is some sick test, I’m not falling for it.” She said weakly.

Jinsoul’s expression fell. “I don’t know how to make you trust me.” She said. “Please, we don’t have much time.”

Jinsoul held out her hand but Yeojin made no move to grab it. 

“Why would you rescue me?” She asked.

Jinsoul looked into her eyes. They were filled with fear and apprehension. She thought back to her time working for the Liberation Front. They saw and helped so many young children, all of whom were far too young to have seen and experienced the things that they did. Yeojin was the same. It broke Jinsoul’s heart to see her like this.

“Because I can’t just sit back while people like us suffer every day.” Jinsoul said.

The sounds of shouts could be heard in the distance. Jinsoul knew they were drawing closer to the cell. She looked at Yeojin, her eyes pleading. 

Yeojin looked between the door and the girl in front of her. She gripped the edge of her mattress, staring at Jinsoul’s worried expression. The sounds grew louder, and in a leap of faith, Yeojin quite literally leapt into the other girl’s arms. She felt Jinsoul embrace her tightly, and then the world disappeared in a whirl of darkness. 

* * *

Vivi watched as the scientists around her frantically scrambled to figure out the source of the alarms that were currently ringing throughout the building. 

“Check the CCTV cameras!” Dr. Kim yelled at one of the scientists, who scrambled to a monitor frantically. “We need to figure out what’s going on.”

The scientist pulled up a screen where the live feed of the corridors in the east wing could be seen. They flipped through the different sections of the building until Dr. Kim stopped them on the southern wing. 

“Stop! There, what was that?”

For a fraction of a second, a grainy figure appeared in the corner of one of the halls, their face turned away from the camera, before disappearing again. It happened so quickly, that it looked like a glitch with the camera.

“Check corridor B.” Dr. Kim instructed the scientist at the monitor. When they navigated to the CCTV feed, all they saw were three guards lying unconscious in the hallway.

“Shit. Send more security down there to investigate.” Dr. Kim said. Just as the order had been given through the communication channel, a yell from across the room made everyone spin around in time to see one of the scientists fly across the room and hit the opposite wall.

While the other scientists had been preoccupied with the security camera feed, Vivi had been contemplating her own situation. 

What is my purpose? She thought.

_ Location and eradication of mutant lifeforms. _

Why?

_ Program installation sourced prior to awakening. _

Programmed… prior to awakening? So her purpose was decided before she woke up. But that didn’t answer her question of why she needed to find mutants, or specifically carriers of the X-gene. What made them so different from everyone else?

But there was no response. No answer. 

There was only a single chromosome differentiating mutants and humans. Something inside of her told her it was… wrong. But why did she feel that way? There were too many questions, and still no answers.

Vivi stood up suddenly. The scientist standing next to her began to tell her to sit back down, but before they could say anything, she was grabbing them by the front of their shirt and hurling them across the room. The scientist hit the wall with a cry and then slid to the floor, unconscious. 

Vivi looked down at her hands, wondering if the amount of strength she had used was necessary. She looked up to see every eye in the room on her, watching her with shock. 

Dr. Kim took a step towards her. “Subject 005, return to your seat.” He ordered. 

Vivi ignored him and walked towards the exit. He stepped towards her again. “Subject 005—” he started to say, but was cut off when Vivi, as if on instinct, swung the back of her foot into his leg with a hook kick. She heard the crunch of bone, and winced as he crumpled to the ground, screaming in pain.

The android strode past him to the scientist now cowering in their chair by the monitor. Vivi looked at the screen in contemplation, before driving her fist straight through. The scientist next to her gulped and scooted away from her as fast as they could.

“Code black! Subject 005 has gone rogue! I repeat, code black!”

Vivi turned to see Dr. Park shouting into the radio. She walked over to her and grabbed her wrist. The woman dropped the radio in pain, and Vivi smashed the device with her foot.

The android held the glaring woman with her fist. “Goodbye.” She said calmly. “And please don’t try to follow me.”

With that, Vivi crushed the scientist’s wrist in her hand and left her crying on the floor. She strode out into the hallway, and was slightly surprised to find it empty, since the guards had followed her so closely just the day before. However, she could hear their thundering footsteps on the stairwell nearby. Turning in the opposite direction, she took off down the long hallway.

What is the fastest way out of the building? Vivi thought.

_ Insufficient information. Download blueprints. _

Vivi cursed silently. She would just have to find her own way out, and fast. Something inside of her, something she couldn’t describe, was telling her to leave.

After she had turned countless corners and passed way too many doors, Vivi wondered if she had outrun the guards chasing her. Not that it would have mattered if they caught up to her—she was confident she could get past anyone standing in her way. Back in the room with the scientists, Vivi hadn’t been trying to exert that much power when she had tossed them around like ragdolls. She was a lot stronger than she ever remembered being, and barely felt any pain when she had punched the computer monitor. She didn’t necessarily  _ mean _ to use so much strength when the scientists got in her way. She also didn’t enjoy inflicting pain upon them. It just, sort of, happened.

Vivi figured that once she escaped, she would have to learn some sort of control over her own strength that she was clearly unfamiliar with.

She ran down a corridor until she came to a stop at the end, where there was a door to her left. Even though she didn’t know the layout of the building, she would eventually find an exit. 

Just as Vivi was about to open the door, she felt another presence in the hallway. She shivered and straightened her shoulders before turning her head to look back where she had just come from. In the middle of the hallway, stood a girl with long, black hair. Her dark eyes watched Vivi, devoid of any emotion.

Vivi felt chills running up her spine as she matched her gaze with the other girl. Her eyes were so glassy and blank. Vivi tilted her head to the side in curiosity, wondering what she was doing there.

After several moments of silence, the girl turned and walked away. Vivi watched her until she turned the corner and walked down a different hallway, disappearing. 

Once she was alone in the hallway, Vivi turned her attention back to the door. She lifted her leg and kicked it open, denting the metal with a screech. Not very subtle, but definitely effective. 

Vivi ran outside, feeling the sun on her skin for the very first time. The light was so bright that it stunned her slightly, but she quickly gathered her wits and ran. She crouched and leapt over the chain-link fence as it approached before disappearing into the dense woods.

* * *

Jungeun paced around the living room, wringing her hands together. Yerim sat on the dusty couch, watching her friend, with her arms crossed over her chest. Her foot tapped against the floor as they both anxiously waited.

“She’s going to be okay.” Yerim said, quietly.

“I know, I know.” Jungeun said, not looking up as she continued to wear holes in the thin carpet. “But what if she’s not? What if they catch her? What if she doesn’t find Yeojin? What if—”

“There’s no point in worrying about all the things that could happen. We just have to believe in her.” Yerim said, even though the same paranoias were running through her head. “She’s strong. She’s probably gone on much scarier missions than this before.”

“Yeah. Yeah you’re right.” Jungeun breathed. “She’s just getting in and out. She’s just rescuing one person.”

Jungeun finally stopped pacing, and Yerim silently sighed in relief. It was short-lived however, once her anxious thoughts crept back in, and the older girl began pacing once again.

They had been waiting just a little over ten minutes now, and every second that passed felt like it stretched on forever. They had no idea of knowing whether Jinsoul had found Yeojin, or if she had even teleported safely inside. They didn’t even know if Yeojin was still in the same place she had been when Yerim had located her using the energy signature she saw when she was in the dreamscape. That had been over 48 hours earlier, and countless things could have happened since then.

Yerim shook her head, reminding herself not to dwell on the thoughts. She looked at the time to see that only another two minutes had passed.

Subconsciously, she dug her nails into her arms. She didn’t know what she would do if Jinsoul didn’t come back to them. She had helped Yerim through the hardest moment of her life. Well, one of the hardest moments of her life. Jinsoul was like an older sister to her, and Yerim couldn’t stand the thought of never seeing her again.

Suddenly, two girls materialized on the floor in front of them, and all of their fears were erased as Jungeun stopped pacing and Yerim jumped to her feet.

On the ground, Jinsoul was hugging a small, brown-haired girl in her arms. The young girl sobbed hard into her shoulder. As her friends stood a few feet away, Jinsoul looked up at them sadly.

Yerim felt her heart break as she watched the two girls on the floor. Jungeun moved to the kitchen to grab her a glass of water. 

“You’re okay. You’re safe.” Jinsoul said, trying to comfort the girl. Yeojin could only nod as she hiccupped, trembling in the older girl’s arms. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a lot of stuff happened! Who's the mysterious girl Vivi saw in the hallway? All will be revealed soon :3  
> See y'all next week!  
> Insta - @ace.aesthetics  
> Twitter - @kitkat_tat


	5. Retrouvailles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another week, another chapter. Enjoy~

Heejin sat in the living room of her house, working on her homework. Hyunjin sat across from her, hair tucked behind her ear as she diligently solved the problems on her worksheet. The back door was open, and a warm afternoon breeze blew through the house. 

It had been a few weeks since Heejin’s encounter with Yerim, the mystery girl from out of town whose powers she still didn’t completely understand. Heejin no longer thought she was working for the people who took Yeojin, but she still didn’t completely trust her yet.

Some time after she had confronted her in the empty classroom, Yerim had found Heejin in the hallway and given her a phone number. She told Heejin that she and her friends were trying to find a way to get Yeojin back. Of course, Heejin didn’t believe her at first. But Yerim persisted, saying that her friend Jinsoul apparently had experience with similar situations. Whatever that meant.

Heejin eventually gave Yerim her phone number too, in case they actually succeeded and managed to find Yeojin. 

She had to fill Hyunjin in at some point, and when she did, her friend was even less willing to trust Yerim and her friends. The first thing she told Heejin was, “Don’t get your hopes up.”

Heejin almost rolled her eyes, even though deep down she knew full well that her friend was right, and that she was only trying to protect her. But Heejin already knew not to get her hopes up; it would only lead to disappointment.

Every day after Yeojin was announced missing, Heejin would wait for news on the investigation. And every day, it was the same thing. There was no evidence left in her apartment, no trails to follow, no clues to decipher. The case was dropped quickly. The police didn’t seem to care that a young girl had gone missing.

Heejin had felt her fair share of disappointment.

She sighed as she leaned back away from the article she was reading, the letters dancing on the page in front of her. She couldn’t focus; her mind wouldn’t let her. So instead, she let her eyes travel to the girl sitting on the ground across from her.

Hyunjin’s long lashes fluttered ever so slightly as her eyes scanned the page in front of her. She bit her bottom lip as she scribbled over a note she had been writing and rewrote it below. Heejin didn’t know how long she sat there watching her, but eventually Hyunjin started to giggle.

“What?” Hyunjin said with a slight smile. “Do I have something on my face?”

Heejin blushed and looked away, trying to play off the fact that she had been blatantly staring at her. “Um no.” She said. “I just zoned out a bit, sorry.”

Hyunjin simply giggled in response and resumed her writing. The sound filled Heejin’s veins with a feeling akin to warm honey. It spread from her chest out to her fingertips, until she was drunk on the sound of her laughter.

Suddenly, Heejin’s phone lit up with an incoming text notification. She frowned, wondering if Haseul finally decided to respond to one of her messages. When she unlocked her phone, however, she saw that she had not.

“Hyunjin.”

“Hmm?” Hyunjin looked up curiously. “What’s up?”

Heejin passed her phone over to her friend with a shaky hand. On the screen, a single text from an unmarked number read,  _ Heejin, this is Yerim! I’m texting you because, well, we rescued your friend. Here, I’ll send the address. She really wants to see you. _

Hyunjin met Heejin’s eyes once she read the text. She slowly passed Heejin’s phone back to her.

“This is that girl you told me about?” Hyunjin asked.

Heejin nodded. Her chest felt tight. 

“Look, I know you want to see Yeojin again, and I do too, but I still don’t completely trust her.” Hyunjin said carefully. “What if it’s a trap? What if she isn’t who she says she is?”

Heejin bit her lip. She knew Hyunjin was right, but she wanted things to go well for a change. 

“Believe me, I’ve thought of those things too.” Heejin said. “But what if there’s even the slightest possibility that they really did rescue her? We should go check it out.”

Hyunjin looked down, her doubts still circling her head. Finally, she set her pencil down. “Alright.” She said. “But I’m scouting the place out before we set foot inside. Okay?”

“Okay.” Heejin nodded, already grabbing her backpack. “Then let’s go.”

Before they even reached the house, Hyunjin transformed into a crow and flew ahead to get a good look at it. Heejin stepped off the road and ran up to a large oak tree. She leaned against the trunk, and with a wave of her hand, she became invisible. 

Above the trees, Hyunjin spotted the roof of the house and perched on a nearby tree branch. She cocked her head to look down at the road below, but couldn’t see Heejin, meaning she had already cast her illusion. Hyunjin turned back to look at the house. The inside appeared dark, save for the natural light entering through the windows. 

She swooped down to perch on the mailbox and get a better look. From what she could tell, there was no one surrounding the outer perimeter of the house. That just left the inside.

As she looked through the large window on the front of the house, she could see movement inside. A girl with blonde hair was walking towards the couch, carrying a glass of what she could only assume to be water. As Hyunjin watched her, the blonde girl handed the glass to someone sitting on the couch.

Hyunjin hopped down off the mailbox and walked up the front lawn to get a better look at what she thought she was seeing. The girl with blonde hair sat down next to a smaller girl with brown hair who was drinking from a glass of water. The sight made Hyunjin want to scream and cry at the same time, but she forced herself to remain calm in case what she was seeing wasn’t actually the real thing.

She hopped over to the edge of the yard and flew to a low-hanging branch out of sight of the house. Then she let out three caws: her signal to let Heejin know that she felt it was safe enough to proceed.

Heejin materialized out of the air a second later, running up the road to meet Hyunjin where she dropped down to the ground and transformed back.

“What did you see? Is the coast clear?” Heejin asked.

Hyunjin nodded, her legs trembling slightly. 

“She’s… I saw her, Heejin. She’s in there.” Hyunjin whispered.

Heejin’s eyes widened and she turned towards the house. Before she could sprint to the front door, Hyunjin grabbed her wrist and spun her back around.

“Wait.” Hyunjin said. “Just, be prepared for anything. We might have to fight our way out if this is a set-up.”

Heejin nodded. “But we’re not leaving without Yeojin.”

Hyunjin let go of her wrist, her jaw firm. “No, not without Yeojin.”

The two girls approached the house warily, both just barely containing their anticipation. As they stepped up onto the front porch, they were careful to stay on high alert, searching for any red flags or warning signs. Heejin took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Inside, they could hear footsteps creaking across the wooden floor, and then the sound of a lock unlatching, before the door was opened a crack to reveal a girl with blonde hair. She peered down at them from the dark interior of the house for a second, before opening the front door fully.

“You must be Heejin and Hyunjin.” The girl said. “Yerim told me she sent you a text. Please, come in.”

Heejin and Hyunjin stepped into the entryway, eyeing the girl warily as she closed the door behind them. She seemed to sense their slight hostility.

“My name is Jungeun, it’s nice to meet you.” She said. “But I know you’re here to see your friend. She’s just over there in the living room.” 

Jungeun beckoned the two girls past the entryway and deeper into the house. They followed her hesitantly. However, as soon as they saw Yeojin, sitting on the couch in front of them, all suspicion flew out the window.

Yeojin was sitting on the couch next to another girl with blonde hair. She was drinking a glass of water, her brown hair lying flat against her back. She almost looked as though the color had been drained out of her appearance, but when she saw the two girls standing by the front door, her eyes immediately lit up.

Jinsoul quietly scooted over and stood up to give the girls their space when she saw that they clearly needed it. Her and Jungeun moved to the kitchen and watched from afar.

Heejin audibly gasped when she saw her friend, her hand flying up to her mouth. Before she knew it, she was running forward and hugging her as she sobbed into her shoulder.

Yeojin hugged her friend, sobbing with her as she felt Heejin trembling in her arms. After a few moments, Heejin leaned out of their embrace to get a good look at her.

“Is it really you?” Heejin whispered, still crying.

Yeojin nodded. “It’s me, I’m here.” She sniffled. “And you’re really here.”

Heejin laughed as she cried, caressing Yeojin’s cheek before pulling her into another crushing hug.

Hyunjin stood in the entryway, still in a state of shock, even though she had seen her friend through the window mere moments earlier. She just couldn’t find it within herself to believe what her eyes were showing her. Then, Yeojin met her eyes and smiled, her face so full of light even as tears dripped down her cheeks. Hyunjin felt her feet carrying her across the room until she knelt down next to the two girls and wrapped her arms around both of them. 

“I missed you both so much.” Yeojin cried, which only made her friends hug her tighter, determined to never let her go. 

Yerim emerged from the hallway and found three girls in a pile at the edge of the couch. She couldn’t help but smile knowing that they were now reunited. As she watched them, Heejin looked up at her and smiled.

When Heejin and Hyunjin finally decided to let Yeojin have some breathing room, they broke away from their hug, only to sit close to either side of her. Hyunjin looked over at Yerim, who had entered the room quietly.

“How did you find her?” Hyunjin asked the three girls, her cheeks still wet with tears.

Yerim raised her hand slightly. “Um, that was sort of me.” She said softly. “I sensed her energy the other day when I was asleep. Like, a really big burst of it. I was able to locate her based on the trail it left behind.”

Heejin turned to Yeojin. “Big burst of energy?” She asked, confused.

Yeojin shook her head, trembling slightly in between her friends. It was clear that she didn’t want to talk about whatever had happened, and they decided not to press her further. 

“You said you found her while you were asleep?” Hyunjin asked. “If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly are your powers?”

Yerim fidgeted with the hem of her skirt before glancing at Jinsoul, who gave her an encouraging nod.

“Well, I’ve only come to understand them recently.” Yerim said. “But I can sort of find people when I dream. Sometimes I can see where they are, or they come to me. Other times, I can try to contact them. Like how I accidentally saw you in the mirror.” She said, looking at Heejin. “But I was awake when that happened, so there’s obviously still some things I need to figure out.”

Heejin nodded. “So that explains why you’re always sleeping in class.”

Jungeun raised an eyebrow as she shot a glance at Yerim, who was supposed to not be blowing her cover in class by drawing attention to herself. Yerim suddenly found a rather interesting speck on the floor to look at, and conveniently avoided her gaze.

“After Yerim found the general location of Yeojin’s energy signature, I looked into some schematics and floorplans of the building.” Jinsoul said, oblivious to the exchange between her friends. “Then I teleported in and out. I made sure to avoid the cameras and keep my face hidden, so with any luck, they wont come after us.”

“And what if they do?” Hyunjin asked. After all, what good was believing in luck when the odds were so stacked against them to begin with?

Jinsoul met her gaze. “We’ll stop them.”

Hyunjin felt chills run down her spine as she witnessed the determination in Jinsoul’s expression. Her eyes were stony and hard. She was serious.

When Heejin looked at Jinsoul, she felt a slightly different reaction. She assumed she must have been the friend who Yerim told her about in the school hallway the other day. She said she had a connection to an underground mutant organization. The detail didn’t seem significant at the time, but when Heejin looked at the tall, blonde-haired girl in front of her, a memory buried in the depths of her mind stirred.

Before she could dwell on it for too long, however, she felt someone tug at her sleeve, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“Where’s Haseul?” Yeojin asked, looking up at Heejin with large, glassy eyes. “Is she not with you?”

Heejin looked at Hyunjin, who grimaced slightly, before looking back down at Yeojin.

“Um, no, she wasn’t with us when we got Yerim’s text.” Heejin said.

“Is she okay? She isn’t in danger, is she?” Yeojin asked quickly, and Heejin could almost see the wheels spinning out of control in her head.

“Yes, she’s fine. She just…” Heejin trailed off, trying to figure out how to explain their friend’s situation. “When you were taken, she got really upset. She hasn’t been coming to school—I don’t even know where she is right now.”

“We wanted to be sure you were really safe and okay before texting her.” Hyunjin said, and then glanced up at Yerim. “No offense, or anything.” 

“None taken.” Yerim said, shrugging. “I get it.”

Hyunjin gave her a small smile before pulling out her phone and shooting a text to Haseul. She didn’t expect her to respond right away, so she turned off the screen and set it on her thigh.

“Is it alright if we wait here for her?” Hyunjin asked, first looking to Yerim leaning against the wall, and then to Jungeun and Jinsoul, standing in the kitchen.

Jinsoul set the cup she had been drinking from down on the counter. “Of course.” She said immediately. “You are welcome to stay for as long as you like. In fact, if you ever want to come here in the future, you can.”

The three girls on the couch nodded, smiling gratefully. The room was filled with a comfortable silence, but it only lasted a few seconds before Yerim suddenly clapped her hands together.

“Why don’t we all get to know each other a bit better while we wait for a response from your friend?” She said, a bright smile on her face. “I mean, if that’s alright with everyone.”

Hyunjin and Heejin looked at each other and then at Yeojin, who was resting her head on Heejin’s shoulder. Yeojin smiled and nodded, which was the only answer they needed.

“Yeah, we don’t mind.” Heejin said. “I think we’d like to get to know you three a bit more. You’re not from around here, are you?”

The three girls grabbed some chairs and brought them over so they were all sitting in sort of a circle. Yerim and Jungeun looked at Jinsoul, who smiled as she began to tell their story.

“No, we’re not from around here.” Jinsoul said. “My hometown is Gyeongju, and Yerim and Jungeun are from Hapcheon.”

“We met when Jinsoul was passing through our town and stopped for coffee.” Jungeun continued. “I convinced her to stay the night, and she met Yerim in her dreams.”

Yerim nodded, listening to her friends tell their story. They explained that Yerim’s powers had something to do with manipulation of dreams, that Jinsoul could teleport, and that Jungeun had super speed. Heejin and Hyunjin looked slightly impressed, while Yeojin only nodded, since she had already figured it out earlier that day.

“So, what are your abilities?” Jungeun asked, obviously quite curious. Before Jinsoul and Yerim had come into her life, she didn’t know many others who also possessed abilities. 

“Well, I can create illusions.” Heejin said quietly.

It was the other girls’ turn to be impressed. “Really? That’s so cool!” Yerim said in awe. “Can you make one right now?”

Heejin felt a bit surprised; she usually never used her powers, much less talk about them, especially outside her group of friends. It was strange, but also nice. Raising her hand, she gave her wrist a flick and covered the ceiling in twinkling stars.

Everyone looked up in amazement, amazed by the spectacle. Next to Heejin, Yeojin smiled and clapped her hands together a little. Heejin rubbed her neck, blushing as she let the illusion disappear.

“That’s really incredible.” Jungeun said. 

Hyunjin pursed her lips, impatient to show off her own abilities. Before anyone could prompt her to explain what they were, she suddenly shrank into a green tree frog and hopped up onto Yeojin’s head. Everyone gasped, mouths open as they stared at Hyunjin.

“You can shapeshift?!” Yerim asked, barely containing her excitement.

Yeojin lifted her hands up to her forehead, and Hyunjin jumped into her cupped palms. She lowered her so they were eye to eye, and Hyunjin let out a  _ ribbit _ . Yeojin giggled as she set her friend on the couch next to her, and Hyunjin returned to her normal self once more, an amused smirk barely visible on her face.

“What about you Yeojin?”

Yeojin looked up at Yerim, who was looking at her with a kind and curious smile. She looked at the other girls, who all wore the same expression. Then she looked down at her hands, fidgeting.

“I can give life to things like flowers or animals.” Yeojin said as she exhaled shakily. 

She didn’t know why, but it sort of scared her to let the information go. She knew, deep down, that the people she was surrounded with were good, and would never seek to hurt her. Yet she still couldn’t help the tightness in her chest when she talked about it.

“Fitting for such a kind-hearted person like yourself.” Hyunjin said, pinching her cheek.

Yeojin felt some of the tension leave her body as she scowled and tried to stop Hyunjin from practically cooing at her.

“That’s really cool!” Yerim said, and Jinsoul and Jungeun nodded too. “You never have to worry about your indoor plants dying.”

Yeojin giggled at her reasoning and nodded. She supposed that was a good perk. Yerim’s energy seemed to rub off on the younger girl, making her smile more too, despite what she had endured not even 48 hours prior.

While the other girls continued to talk, Hyunjin lifted her phone to see if Haseul had responded to her text. When she didn’t see a notification, she opened the chat room and read the description under her last message aloud.

“Message not delivered. Recipient is out of service.” Hyunjin said slowly, looking up at the other girls, who had stopped their conversations and were now meeting her gaze. “What does that mean? Where could she be?”

As if it had never left, the tightness in Yeojin’s chest returned. She hugged Heejin’s arm tightly as she felt panic begin to seep into her veins. Why didn’t Haseul have any service? Why couldn’t her phone receive messages? Why—

“Actually, I might be able to find her for you.” Yerim said, cutting through Yeojin’s thoughts. Everyone looked to her, and she fidgeted in her seat a little. “I can look for her in the dreamscape.”

“It’s worth a try if text messages wont reach her.” Jungeun said, and the rest of the girls nodded.

Several minutes later, they were standing around the couch, watching as Yerim lay on her back, her eyes closed and her hands folded across her stomach. She appeared to be fast asleep, but underneath her eyelids, her eyes flitted back and forth. 

Heejin watched her, praying that she would be able to find Haseul. The last time they had spoken, she had blown them off when they begged her to go to school with them. They knew she was in a bad place, and felt the need to look after her, but Haseul had stormed off, and that was the last they had seen of her.

Across the room, Jinsoul was talking to Jungeun about something quietly. Heejin watched them, wondering why Jinsoul’s name felt familiar to her. She tapped her chin, but she couldn’t place it. In the deep recesses, she heard the distant sound of a mother’s cries. Jinsoul looked over to meet Heejin’s eyes, and Heejin looked away quickly, the cries in her mind dying down. 

On the couch, Yerim muttered something in her sleep, before she slowly opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling. She lay there, unmoving, and Heejin glanced at Hyunjin, wondering if she was alright. Her friend met her eyes, clearly wondering the same thing.

“Did you find her?” Hyunjin asked.

Yerim sat up and looked over at her. “I sent her a message.” She said cryptically. “Hopefully she’ll get it.”

* * *

Haseul stood inside the airplane hull, her arms crossed over her chest as she examined the wall across from her. Pictures and articles covered the entire surface, and red strings of yarn connected were threaded around push pins, connecting everything. The only problem was that she wasn’t sure how.

To one side, was all the information she could find on Yeojin’s disappearance, which, much to her chagrin, wasn’t a lot. Next to it, was the case of another disappearance a few months prior. The victim was a girl named Ara, and Haseul didn’t have a lot of information on her either.

She had decided to set up her investigation inside the airplane she had discovered on a whim. Haseul figured it was out of the way and wouldn’t easily be discovered. Unlike her house, which would most definitely link her identity to the compiled evidence and theories she was creating. So she had scoured the internet and perused copies of newspapers for anything that may have been related to her friend’s disappearance. 

The only other bit of information she managed to dig up was a nearby military weapon manufacturing company that sat at the edge of town. How they managed to fit into the equation of her Yeojin’s disappearance, she didn’t know, but something about them didn’t sit right with her.

Perhaps it was because they were located so close to the town. Both of the disappearances happened to students who were enrolled in Useon High School. Not to mention, twelve years ago there was a car accident on the road next to their headquarters. So… somethething just felt off about them.

Haseul sighed, knowing her mind was just running un useless circles. She couldn’t connect the evidence because she was missing something crucial, and she wouldn’t procure it just by racking her brain for endless possibilities.

Picking up her coat, she stepped outside of the airplane to walk back to her truck, when a movement caught her eye. She froze, looking out at the sky, where something was floating down to the ground. It landed in the snow several meters away.

Frowning, Haseul walked over to it, but her expression turned to one of confusion when she saw that it was a paper airplane. She spun around to see who had thrown it, but there was no one out in the barren landscape except for herself.

She bent down to pick up the paper airplane, and suddenly realized that it wasn’t just any paper airplane, but a folded map. She unfolded it carefully. An address was circled using a purple glitter pen, which was odd enough in itself, but when she examined the map further, she nearly gasped in shock.

At the top, were stickers of animals, and not just any animals—there was a white rabbit, a yellow cat, a white bird, and a green frog.

Haseul was frozen, staring at the map in her trembling hands. It was impossible. Why was she looking at a map that had the stickers she and her friends had bought before the start of the term? Her eyes flitted back to the address. It was near the edge of town. There was only one possible explanation in her mind, and that was that Yeojin was there.

She lifted her head to look around once more, but all she could see was the endless expanse of white, snow-covered hills. 

Before she knew it, Haseul had run all the way back to her truck on the side of the road. She gasped for breath as her lungs burned with the cold air. Tossing the map in the passenger seat, she frantically turned on the ignition and pulled out into the road. Her foot barely left the gas pedal the entire drive there.

All she could think was,  _ please let her be safe, please let Yeojin be okay. _

On the map, there were Heejin’s and Hyunjin’s stickers too, and Haseul wondered if they were with Yeojin. She hadn’t spoken to the two of them in a while, and immediately felt her stomach pool with guilt. She had been angry when she had stormed away from them (quite literally), but they were her friends, and they didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. Her grip on the steering wheel tightened as she neared the destination on the map.

At last, Haseul pulled into the driveway of a run-down house surrounded by trees. The sun was sinking lower and lower on the horizon, and the sky was beginning to darken, but there were no lights from inside the house. Haseul briefly wondered if she was being set up, but her desperation overcame her caution as she grabbed the map and walked up to the front of the house.

Merely three seconds after she knocked on the door, she was greeted by a young high school girl with brown hair. The girl smiled as she looked down at the map in Haseul’s hands, and Haseul held it out to her.

“Is this… yours?” She asked hesitantly.

The girl nodded. “Yes, thank you for returning it.” Then she beckoned Haseul inside, saying, “Come in! Come in, everyone’s waiting.”

Haseul stepped inside, wondering who this ‘everyone’ was. It didn’t take her long to figure out, though, because as soon as she crossed the threshold, her gaze was immediately drawn to three girls sitting on an old couch in the center of the living space.

Yeojin. Yeojin was here. Yeojin was safe and she was  _ alive _ . 

As soon as the young girl saw her friend standing at the edge of the room, her eyes wide and her mouth open in shock, she jumped up and ran over to her. Haseul immediately swooped her into a crushing embrace as Yeojin buried her face into her neck.

The two of them sank to the floor, crying together.

“I’m sorry.” Haseul said between shaky sobs. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

Hearing her friend so upset only made Yeojin cry even harder. “Why are you sorry?” She sniffled, hugging Haseul as tight as she could, never wanting to let her go.

“I wasn’t there. I could have protected you.” Haseul cried, rubbing Yeojin’s back, but stopped when she felt her pull away suddenly.

“Why are you sorry for that?” Yeojin asked.

Haseul floundered. She thought it was obvious. If she had been a better friend, she would have made it in time to stop Yeojin’s captors from taking her. She could have protected her if only she had been a few minutes earlier to her apartment. It was all her fault Yeojin was taken.

“I’m so glad you weren’t there.” Yeojin blubbered, and Haseul froze in disbelief. “I’m so glad they didn’t get you too.”

Haseul stared at Yeojin, her words slowly seeping into her skin.  _ She didn’t blame her _ . 

Somehow, this only caused more tears to leak from the corners of her eyes and fall down her cheeks. Yeojin buried herself in her friend’s arms once more.

On the couch, Heejin and Hyunjin were sitting close together, silently crying as they observed the reunion between their friends. Off to the side, Yerim was starting to sniffle as she watched the exchange. Next to her, Jungeun had quietly slid her hand into Jinsoul’s as the two of them felt their chests tighten with the raw emotion that filled the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1/3 is reunited! Yay!  
> See ya next week.
> 
> Insta - @ace.aesthetics  
> Twitter - @kitkat_tat


	6. Novaturient

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's so weird that I'm currently working on chapter 10, and I've only posted half of this online. I can't wait to finish this fic, because my bored mind has already started making two other fics, and even a sequel to this one.   
> Anyways, enjoy~

“What can I get for you today?”

Jungeun stood in a small coffee shop near the center of town, taking orders from customers. The sound of chatter and the espresso machine behind her filled her ears. To her left, her coworker Seungyeon was steaming milk for the latte she was preparing.

“Iced Americano, please.”

Jungeun nodded with a smile on her face as she wrote the customer's name on the cup in her hand. Then she moved to the espresso machine and tamped the coffee grounds as she began to make the drink. 

“My break is in a few minutes, just a heads up.” Seungyeon said as she passed Jungeun, finished making the latte.

Jungeun nodded, glancing over her shoulder to only see a couple more people standing in line. Thankfully, there wasn’t a rush.

A few weeks after the three of them moved to the town, Jungeun got hired at the small coffee shop. She had applied to a few places, hopeful that her experience would make her an ideal candidate, and it did. The place she accepted didn’t ask too many questions, all they wanted was someone friendly who knew how to make coffee, and she fit the bill. 

She had been sad to give up her job in her hometown; her coworkers were really nice and the hours worked for her. But she knew the helping Jinsoul was more important to her, and so she left as soon as Jinsoul revealed where she was headed.

So far, she enjoyed working in the new town. Seungyeon was onl y a few years older than her, and kindly explained to her everything there was to know about the little shop. They didn’t share a lot of shifts, because Jungeun was still going to school and Seungyeon was taking online classes, but she still enjoyed the comforting presence that the older girl provided when they worked together.

As she handed the customer their drink and started taking the next order, Eunbi emerged from the kitchen carrying a tray of scones and began placing them inside the glass display under the counter. Hwang Eunbi was Jungeun’s age, and she had seen her around school a few times. They never talked before Jungeun got hired, but she soon discovered that the other girl was really talkative and friendly, and would gossip about a lot of stuff happening around the school. She was fairly popular, so she knew a lot, and Jungeun would sometimes listen to her updates to pass the time in the evenings, whether it was about the latest sports team win, or the roller rink she missed visiting every so often with her friends.

“Has it been busy?” Eunbi asked as Jungeun began to tamp more espresso. Seungyeon disappeared into the back room to check her phone as she took her break.

“No, it’s actually been pretty slow.” Jungeun said. The water began trickling into the glass below the tamper. She brushed her hands on her apron and glanced at Eunbi, who was placing the last of the scones in the display. “I’m always so glad that I don’t work the weekday morning shifts.”

“Me too, I hear it’s hell.” Eunbi said. “But then again, closing sucks too.”

With that, she headed to the back to wash some dishes and possibly make some more pastries. Jungeun finished making the latte order and handed it to the customer, who left with a smile.

Jungeun sighed, leaning against the counter and looking out at the shop. Warm, afternoon light flooded through the windows, and only a few of the tables were occupied. With no new customers entering the cafe, she grabbed some sanitizer to begin wiping down the tables.

While she had left with a bit of her savings, and while Jinsoul had an account as well, Jungeun didn’t want any of them to have to scrape the bottom of the barrel anytime soon. She also quite enjoyed working as a barista, so she didn’t mind working long hours. And it provided her with a good opportunity to listen to the conversations of people in the town.

As she began to wipe down one of the tables, a group of friends were talking at the one next to her. She was lost in her thoughts for a moment, but when she heard the word ‘mutant,’ she automatically stiffened.

“I heard they were talking about passing a law to require parents to test their children.” One of the girls was saying. “Not just in a few districts, but the entire country.”

“Isn’t it like that in some other countries already?” Her friend asked, sipping her drink.

A guy sitting across from them jumped in. “Yeah, in Hong Kong and Japan. They test them at birth.”

“Well I sure hope they pass it here. I don’t feel safe walking around at night. I mean, did you hear about that riot in Daegu? Innocent bystanders were injured.”

Her friends nodded and murmured in assent. 

Jungeun felt her hands shaking as she moved on to the next table. It wasn’t anything new. She had been hearing the same stuff her entire life, even before she discovered she was a mutant.

Before she met Jinsoul, she hadn’t known anyone else like her. She remembered discovering her powers, and freaking out so much that she hid in her bed all day, trying to get her hands to stop vibrating. Eventually she got herself under control, and learned how to hide her true identity away from the rest of the world. 

After she met Jinsoul, a mutant like her, everything changed. She no longer felt pitted against the entire world. She was no longer by herself, alone and afraid. Jinsoul gave her hope, and for the first time, she actually wanted to fight for her future. 

Jungeun finished clearing the cups from the tables and set them in the bin by the counter. It was a dangerous thing, to be alone in the world. She was painfully reminded of that when she witnessed Yeojin reunite with her friends. 

When she finished with her shift, she said goodbye to her friends and sped home, taking the backroads so no one would wonder why a streak of color was flying down the middle of the city. She ran past houses and cars, everything around her seemingly frozen as she continued at a normal pace. The butterflies slowly flapped their wings, as though they were moving through molasses. Jungeun always thought it was kind of pretty.

She stepped inside the house to see Jinsoul sitting at the table, frowning as she scrolled intently through her laptop.

“Everything okay?” Jungeun asked, walking over to her as she slid her bag off her shoulders.

“Not sure yet.” Jinsoul said without looking up. “I set up an alert system that would report back to my server if any protocols were issued in the BbCorp headquarters.”

“And did they?”

Jinsoul sat back in her chair as her eyes met Jungeun’s. “Yeah. Just one: Code Black.”

Jungeun raised her eyebrows in confusion. “Code Black? What does that mean?”

“Not sure about that either.” Jinsoul sighed. “But if I were to guess, it might have something to do with a rogue android, since there was a log recorded twenty minutes later.”

“Wait, wait.” Jungeun said, rubbing her temples. “Rogue  _ android _ ? Does this have something to do with the Polaris Project.”

“Everything, in fact.” Jinsoul said. “Remember how I told you they hid their true projects under the guise of military weapons manufacturing?”

Jungeun nodded. Soon after her and Jinsoul had discussed their plan to rescue Yeojin, Jinsoul had filled Jungeun in on everything she had discovered about BbCorp. Admittedly, it wasn’t a whole lot, but it was a great deal more than they had known previously.

“Well I think that actually might not be too far off from what they’re actually doing.” Jinsoul whispered. “Of course, I’m not certain. It’s just a theory. But why are they experimenting on androids? I mean, the definition of an android is a robot that can pass as a human.”

“I… don’t know.” Jungeun said. Her mind was reeling with all the information. “I just hope you’re not right about this.”

* * *

Sooyoung sat down at the edge of a balcony with her legs dangling over the edge and an apple and a yogurt she had taken from the dining hall. Below her, a perfectly manicured lawn surrounded by hedges spread out around the Eden Academy for Girls, one of the best boarding schools in the country. 

She took the yogurt in her hand and peeled off the lid, licking it before setting it on the balcony floor beside her. Sooyoung had found the space early on when she had been enrolled in the school. It was secluded, and very few in their right mind tried to venture out to it, which was perfect. 

If Sooyoung was being honest, she avoided most people. They placed her on a pedestal, regarded her as a paragon of success, even though she wasn’t much different from any of her classmates. In doing so, they simultaneously distanced themselves from her. So she stopped caring about them. After all, there was no one who knew her better than herself, so she was all she really needed.

Even before those around her began to praise her for her talent and abilities, she never had any time to make friends. Always being hurried to her next lesson, whether it was french, piano, dance, vocal, or fencing. She was too busy trying to live up to her mother’s expectations.

Sooyoung sighed deeply, resisting the urge to hurl her yogurt container over the balcony. 

_ You must be better. _

She was thankful when her mother finally sent her away, when she was finally freed from her house. Sure, the teachers at the boarding school were strict, but not as strict as her mother. At least at the school, she could be herself. She could do whatever she pleased, go wherever she desired. With moderation, of course. When she got caught sneaking off the grounds to coffee shops when she wasn’t supposed to, she would only get mild slaps on the wrist.

Sooyoung grabbed the apple sitting next to her and held it in front of her face, as if she expected it to start talking to her, or remind her that she had violin lessons in half an hour. But it didn’t. And she was only slightly disappointed. 

Suddenly a flock of white birds burst from a tree to her right, and she jumped in shock, dropping the apple. Sooyoung lunged to grab it, but her fingertips only grasped the empty air in front of her.

Cursing her own luck, Sooyoung watched as the apple fell to the ground below as if in slow motion. She thought the situation couldn’t get any worse, but suddenly it did. She watched from above as a girl with dark brown hair walked directly beneath her falling lunch. But instead of smacking the girl on the head and concussing her, the apple landed in her outstretched palms.

Sooyoung gaped at her as the brunette stood, unmoving below her dangling legs. She didn’t even flinch at the impact, even though the fruit had fallen two stories.

Throwing all caution to the wind, quite literally, Sooyoung got to her feet and then leaped off the balcony. She didn’t care that anyone might see her. She didn’t even care that her yellow plaid skirt flew up to reveal her shorts underneath. 

Sooyoung free-fell through the air before slowing down right before she hit the ground, hovering a few inches off the gravel. Then she walked over to the girl who was staring down at the bright red fruit in her hands in awe.

“Um, excuse me…” Sooyoung said as she drew closer to the girl, who was wearing a different uniform than hers. The girl looked up with wide eyes, and Sooyoung froze, gulping. 

“This is yours, right?” The girl asked, holding out the apple. Sooyoung barely nodded, taking the fruit from her. She looked down to notice that the girl’s palms were bright pink from the impact.

“If you don’t mind me asking, why exactly did you walk over here and catch… this?” Sooyoung asked incredulously. “How did you even know to catch it?” The questions tumbled out of her mouth as she realized the girl hadn’t bothered to look up beforehand.

The girl hesitated before replying. Then she said, “I saw it in my dream.”

_ Her… dream? _

“I saw this place in my dream. And then I saw the apple in my hands.” The girl continued. “When I woke up, the word ‘paradise’ was in my mind.”

“O-okay.” Sooyoung said, clearly still miffed. The word ‘paradise’ probably had something to do with the name of the school, but how she knew exactly where to go when she didn’t even attend was still a mystery. “But why did you come here then?” She pressed.

The girl furrowed her eyebrows. “I guess I just felt compelled to. At this moment.” Then she shrugged. “I’m not really sure, I’m still trying to get the hang of my abilities.”

Sooyoung’s breath caught in her throat. This girl was a mutant. Did she know that Sooyoung was a mutant?

“So you’re… like me?” Sooyoung asked, voice barely above a whisper.

The girl looked up to meet her gaze and nodded, a small smile on her face. Sooyoung felt an impulse to step away from her. She had never met anyone who had abilities like her before. Sure, she had heard about them on the news and in the conversations of her classmates, but never had she come face to face with another… mutant.

“My name is Yerim.” The girl said, holding out her hand. She was still wearing the smile. Sooyoung grasped her hand, surprised at how warm it felt. 

“I’m Sooyoung.” She said. “Nice to meet you.” She still didn’t understand why Yerim was on her school grounds, or even how she had managed to get on them in the first place. Sooyoung knew firsthand how hard it was getting on and off without being caught.

“Don’t you have class?” Sooyoung asked. “Your uniform is from Useon High.”

Yerim looked down at her clothes, only just seeming to remember that she was enrolled in school, which Sooyoung thought was a bit strange. 

“Oh, yeah. My friends are probably wondering where I am.” Yerim said sheepishly. “I just had the urge to come here just now.”

“Why?” Sooyoung asked.

“I don’t know.” Yerim said. “To meet you, I suppose. Us mutants have to stick together, after all.”

Sooyoung was taken aback. She came all this way just to meet  _ her _ . For no other reason but to meet her. “Yeah.” She felt herself saying. “Yeah we do.”

Six year old Sooyoung sat on the couch, peering through the curtains as she watched children ride their bikes down the street. She desperately wanted to join them, but she also had strict orders from her mother.

Nine year old Sooyoung was doing homework in her room when suddenly she began to float out of her chair and up to the ceiling. She cried until she eventually returned to the floor, afraid her mother might find out.

Twelve year old Sooyoung walked through the halls of her public school, pretending to ignore the whispers and conversations that were about her. She sat by herself in the library, watching as people ate their lunch in groups outside.

All her life, she had avoided others. So needless to say, she was surprised to find herself agreeing with Yerim so easily. Maybe, she thought, just maybe, it wouldn’t hurt to stop pushing people away. To stop trying so hard to be the best at everything. To stop being alone. Because it was one thing to be alone, but another to be lonely.

* * *

Vivi ran. She ran until she could no longer. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but the sky was growing darker, and she felt that it was safe to assume she had placed enough distance between her and the lab. Or facility. Or whatever the heck it was.

She leaned against a tree in an attempt to conserve her energy. While running such a great distance was easy for her, she still knew that her energy levels were falling lower by the second. She may not have been able to feel the effects of her physical exertion, but if she wasn’t careful, she would end up collapsing where she stood. 

Vivi shuddered a little at the thought, looking around her. The sun was beginning to set on the horizon, washing the pines around her in orange light. Orange… like the light she had seen when she woke up. She hadn’t noticed it at first, but thinking back, it had definitely been there. Vivi looked down at her chest, where the lingering orange light remained.

There were some buildings far off in the distance, and Vivi walked towards them. She figured she could blend in with the town for the time being, disguised as a regular person as she searched for a way to recharge her energy. She definitely didn’t have any energy charging chambers on hand, but maybe she could find a substitute. 

Vivi eventually stopped near a large building at the edge of town, looking around to see if there was anyone about, but thankfully the street was empty. She almost kept walking, but something about the building drew her towards it. Her eyes roamed over the building, taking in the retro design and the pink paint. It felt… comforting, like she had seen it somewhere. Maybe a dream.

Vivi walked around the building until she found a door at the back. Next to the door, sat a row of potted flowers that looked like they were starting to dry up and wilt, clearly having not been watered in a few months. 

She looked around her once more before crouching in front of the flowers, her eyebrows furrowed as she frowned slightly. Vivi slowly reached out and lifted the pot that held purple columbines. Underneath, was a key.

Vivi picked it up and turned it over, wondering why she had the instinct to lift the pot just now. There was no way she could have known the key was under there. Slowly, her eyes traveled to the door.  _ Perhaps…? _

She replaced the pot and stood with the key in her hand. Then Vivi pushed the key into the lock and turned it. The lock clicked, and the door swung open. 

Vivi could have re-locked it and walked away, but there were too many unanswered questions filling her head, and so she stepped inside.

The interior of the building was dark, save for the fading sunlight that filtered through the dusty windows. As if on instinct, Vivi flicked the light switch on the wall to her right. A small, overhead light flickered on, lighting up the small hallway she stood in. She walked forward on the balls of her feet to avoid making noise.

As she rounded the corner to her left, she saw a tiny kitchen with wooden cupboards and a table with two chairs in the middle of the room. Past the table, was a creaky staircase. Vivi walked into the kitchen and looked around. In the sink, were old dishes that hadn’t been washed. There was a layer of dust on the table, and a few photos hanging on the fridge.

Vivi pulled one of them off the fridge and held it out in the light. There were two women standing in the picture, one older woman, and one teenager. The woman had greying hair and wrinkles on her face. The teen girl had long, golden blonde hair. They stood in front of the same building Vivi was in, but the retro paint looked brighter.

As she held the picture in her hand, she noticed a glint of metal in the light that filtered through the window above the sink. Vivi turned her hand over to see her skin broken across her knuckles, revealing metal and wiring underneath. She thought back and realized it must have happened when she punched the computer monitor in the lab. So much for fitting in with humans; she would have to add that to the list of things she needed to do. 

She hung the picture back on the fridge and continued to investigate. She hoped there was no one else in the building, but from what she could tell, it had been vacant for a while. Vivi climbed up the stairs, each step creaking beneath her feet. 

When she emerged on the second floor, her guess was right, as she saw dust covering every surface. Perhaps she could hide out in the building, at least for a little while. The ceiling was slanted inside the loft, and a bed was shoved near the window. Next to it, was a vanity, and on the other side of the room was a wardrobe. The last of the evening sunlight hit the bed and the worn carpet.

Vivi walked over to the vanity to see more pictures of the blonde teen taped to the sides of the mirror. She looked at them with a smile on her face as she sat in the seat.  However, as she gazed at her own reflection, her smile was replaced with a look of shock. 

Her face… her own face looked exactly like the girl in the pictures all over the room. The only difference was her pastel pink hair. Vivi brought her fingers up to touch her cheeks and her nose, perplexed. Why did she look like the girl in the pictures?

For all she could remember, she had only woken up two days ago. Was it possible that she had been created as a clone? That would explain why she had metal limbs instead of bones, like she knew most other people to have. But then where was the girl in the photos? Her place appeared to have been abandoned for some time. And Vivi still couldn’t shake the lingering feeling that drew her to the building. The feeling that had been responsible for her finding the key, turning the lock, entering the kitchen, and then climbing the stairs to the bedroom. As if she had known where everything was all along.

Vivi stood up suddenly, tipping over the wooden chair. It thudded on the ground, and she froze, hoping that no one heard.

When no other sounds came from within the building, she climbed down the stairs with shaky legs. The house was so comforting that it scared her. It scared her so much that she felt compelled to run, until she realized there was another door on the other side of the hall from the kitchen. Vivi froze, her legs poised to leave.

But her urge to find answers compelled her to walk towards the mystery door instead. And so, with an outstretched hand, she grasped the door and opened it.

She flicked the lights on to reveal a much larger space than the tiny, two-story house it was attached to. As she turned to the left to look out at the large room, she couldn’t help but gasp in amazement. To the right, was a large, polished wooden floor against windows that reached from the floor to the ceiling. To the left, was an area that had several arcade games, including a claw machine filled with animal plushies. Past the arcade, sat a large desk in front of rows of shelves of roller skates.

She was in a roller rink. Vivi was standing in a roller rink. 

She walked across the grand room to the door that faced the street. On the other side, was a foldable metal door. Whoever owned the roller rink had obviously closed up for the day. Or maybe the month, considering the state of the furniture. 

Vivi walked back over to the desk, where a fatback computer sat, along with several mangas and deer toys. She stepped behind it, examining everything and looking for clues that might tell her who the girl that owned the rink might be.

She reached out to power on the computer. When her finger was only millimeters away, the screen flickered to life. Vivi jerked her hand back, startled. 

She got over her shock quickly, though, her attention stolen by the computer booting up slowly. Compared to the computers back at the lab, this one was severely outdated.

As she waited for it to fully come to life, Vivi looked through the shelves and drawers in the large front desk. She browsed through a box of cassette tapes next to a walkman, as well as a box full of spare parts, for some reason, and brought out a journal with pop-up stickers and pink pages. Whoever owned the rink must have written in there.

Vivi flipped to the first page and read the entry. It read,

_ April 16, _

_ My grandma told me today that she’s passing her roller rink down to me! She wants me to start working there and someday I’m going to own it. But not now, of course. I’m only in high school and I don’t even know the first thing about owning a business. It is a business, right? Oh well, I’m sure she’ll teach me all about it. _

_ Ara ♡ _

That would certainly explain the retro design of the exterior of the building, Vivi thought. The rink had originally been owned by the girl’s grandmother. 

Her eyes drifted to the name Ara, and a wave of something like relief flooded through her body. So she wasn’t the girl that owned the roller rink. After all, her name was Vivi; that’s what she had woken up knowing. But that meant she was just further from answers, and maybe she mistook her relief for disappointment. She flipped through a few more pages and read another entry.

_ July 28, _

_ Today… I discovered something crazy. I’m writing it down because I need to tell someone. Hopefully no one reads this and finds out about it. I’ll be sure to keep it well hidden from now on. _

_ I was playing in a PC cafe with my online friends when my computer suddenly short-circuited. Thankfully, the staff didn’t blame me, they assumed it was a surge of electricity or something. But… it wasn’t. It was me. I made it short-circuit. Well, actually, I blame my friend Yewon, because she beat me in the round at the last second. _

_ What am I going to do? If anyone finds out I’m a mutant I could get in trouble. I guess I won’t be going to that PC cafe anymore…  _

_ Ara ♡ _

So the girl in the pictures was a mutant. If Vivi had to guess what kind of mutation she had, she would say the girl possessed the ability to manipulate technology and computers. Either that or electrokinesis, the manipulation of electricity and static energy. Nothing else would explain the short-circuit of the computer. Vivi flipped to the last entry in the book.

_ December 12, _

_ I wonder if people ever get the feeling they’re being watched? Maybe I’m just paranoid but I feel like someone is watching me when I walk home from school. I’m starting to get nervous. What if someone found out about me? No. I have to think positively. Right? No use worrying myself when it’s probably nothing.  _

_ Ara _

Vivi traced the name with her finger, chills running down her spine. Ara hadn’t drawn a heart next to it like all the other entries. Vivi’s eyes then drifted to a pen that was sitting next to the computer. It was a crazy idea, but she wanted to be sure. 

She took the pen in a shaky hand and held it poised over the journal paper. Slowly, she wrote the name Ara beneath the last journal entry. Then Vivi wrote the entire entry, word for word beneath the original one in a sort of frenzy. When she finally stood back and looked at the whole page, she dropped the pen, not caring that she had defaced the journal belonging to the girl, because it didn’t. It belonged to her. The handwriting was exactly the same. Her face was exactly the same. 

So that meant that she was the granddaughter of the owner of the roller rink. She was the one who could manipulate technology. She was the one who was being followed… 

Vivi shut the journal quickly, her mind running far too fast for her liking. 

She had one mystery solved. That was good. And at least she knew no one else would be coming to the house, so she could hide out for some time. Vivi looked at the computer next to her, which had finally fully booted up. If she wanted to find out more about… herself, then that seemed a good place to look as well.

The screen required a password, but the moment Vivi brought her fingertips to the keyboard, it unlocked. She stared at her fingers for a second before it clicked.  _ Her powers _ .

Vivi began to look through the various files and documents on the computer. The majority of them were pictures she had taken with an old camera and uploaded. She clicked through them, a smile growing on her face as she looked at all the people who had come to her rink. In one of them, a girl with long, dark brown hair was playing arcade games.

It was an autumn day, a warm afternoon. Only a few people were still skating. The neon sign behind Ara illuminated her with pink and blue light. She sat at the desk lazily reading a romance manga when she heard someone clear their throat.

She looked up to see a girl holding several toy plushies she had won from the claw machine in the corner. She set them down on the desk in front of Ara.

Ara looked back up at the girl, a halo around her head where the afternoon sunlight hit it, entering in through the large windows. Where Ara was bathed in neon lighting, the girl facing her was surrounded by the golden glow of the sun. 

“Hi.” The girl said, softly.

“Hi.” Ara replied, smiling a bit as she brushed her blonde hair behind her ear. 

The girl ducked her head. Then she met Ara’s eyes, a smile also tugging at the corners of her lips. “Do you want to skate with me?” Her eyes were dark brown, filled with confidence and daring, and maybe a little nervousness. 

Ara set her book down and prayed the afternoon glow would hide the pink in her cheeks. “Sure.”

Both girls giggled as they stepped out onto the floor, neither of them very good at skating. The girl held out her hand, and Ara took it, feeling braver as she felt the warmth flood into her skin. Perhaps the girl was feeling braver too, as she took the lead, pulling Ara along with her. The rays of sunlight hit her hair, turning it golden.

Eventually, they began to grasp the feel of roller skating, and their legs became less wobbly. At one point, Ara nearly slipped, but the girl caught her. They spun in a slow circle, holding on to each other, smiling.

“I didn’t ask your name.”

Everyone else had long gone, and the two girls sat alone in the roller rink. The sun had set, and the neon lights were brighter than ever.

“Sooyoung.” The girl with the dark hair said, glancing over with her large, doe eyes. “You?”

“I’m Ara.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” Sooyoung giggled, dragging her eyes away to look at the empty rink in front of them.

“You too.” Ara said, unable to tear her gaze away from her. Sooyoung turned her head to look into her eyes once more, and Ara felt her heart begin to beat faster and faster.

Vivi snapped out of her memories and took half a step back from the computer screen. She faintly pressed her hand into her chest, where she could feel her heart beating rapidly. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uuhhhhh, that flashback might be my favorite scene that I've written so far. Everything just looks so colorful and bright in my mind.   
> Also, enter: Sooyoung. Slowly but surely, all the girls are gathering together.  
> See ya next week!
> 
> Insta - @ace.aesthetics  
> Twitter - @kitkat_tat


	7. Meliorism

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before we dive into the chapter, I wanted to take a moment to talk about why I am writing this fic. The core of all my stories surrounds the isolation and expulsion of individuals from the larger group. It examines the lives of people who are considered outside of the normal in a society. It's more than cool powers and abilities that allow people to feel special; it's about the results of prejudice and discrimination.  
> Because of this, I want you, the reader, to take a moment to think critically about the areas in your life in which you have privilege, and the areas in which you do not. How about those around you? How are you advantaged or disadvantaged in comparison to your peers? Thinking in this way will allow us to become more open minded and aware of the ways in which people are systematically oppressed by the rules and regulations our societies are built upon.  
> Maybe one day I will really be able to drive these points across in my writing, but I'm still really new to this. If you read all these notes, kudos to YOU. With that, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

“Who would like to interpret the quote on the board?” The teacher asked at the front of the classroom. A few students raised their hands. “Ha Sooyoung?”

Sooyoung lowered her hand. “The line is from W. B. Yeats’ poem, “The Second Coming.” When he wrote the poem, he believed the world stood at the edge of an apocalypse. It prophesizes the end and destruction of our current world, followed by the emergence of a new one.”

“Very good.”

The other students in the classroom took notes as the teacher continued to talk about the poem on the board. All except for one.

At the back of the classroom, Jiwoo sat with her head resting on her palms, gazing dreamily at the back of Sooyoung’s perfect head. Today, her dark hair was pulled into a neat ponytail at the base of her neck. A few strands fell loose in front of her eyes as she took notes. She pulled off the look so well.

_ Ha Sooyoung _ , Jiwoo sighed. Her name was just as pretty as her.

Ever since she enrolled in the Eden Academy for Girls, Jiwoo had admired Sooyoung. She was smart, pretty, and good at dancing. She was everything that Jiwoo was not. 

Jiwoo wasn’t confident. She wasn’t smart. She wasn’t even good at photography, which was the one thing she actually enjoyed. Sooyoung, on the other hand, was good at everything she enjoyed. Jiwoo could watch her all day, whether she was playing piano, singing in her vocal lessons, or dancing in the studio. And she did. Watching Sooyoung took up most of her time, if she was being honest.

It totally wasn’t creepy. 

Watching her made Jiwoo feel inspired to pursue her own passions. Which was why the recent subjects of her camera were a certain girl. 

Okay. Maybe it was a little creepy.

Well, she didn’t care. She wasn’t doing any harm if Sooyoung didn’t find out, right?

As soon as class let out, Jiwoo hastily packed her things and followed her peers out the door. Sooyoung had been the first outside, but as Jiwoo looked up and down the hall, her vision was obscured by the flow of students. Seriously, how hard was it to lose one girl in a damn boarding school?

Apparently very easy. Jiwoo checked the dance room first, but it was empty. Then she checked the piano room and the choir room, but those were empty too. She peered into every window of every room, but the only thing she found were the annoyed glances of her fellow students. 

Having exhausted her list of locations, Jiwoo trudged up the stairs to her dormitory. English Literature was her last course for the day, and she had hoped to spend the rest of her afternoon ignoring her homework in favor of following Sooyoung around. Unfortunately for her, the universe seemed to have other plans. She sighed, supposing she should complete the reading for her classes next week. 

Jiwoo shut the door to her room and flopped down onto her bed. Her eyes slid shut, and she remembered how she stayed up the night before developing photos in the dark room past curfew. She could really go for a coffee right about now.

_ Wait, coffee _ .

Sooyoung really liked coffee, almost as much as she liked sneaking off grounds. Jiwoo smacked her forehead, wondering why she hadn’t thought of it earlier. As if she had just drunk three shots of espresso, the teenager jumped up from her bed and quickly changed into street clothes.

Fifteen minutes later, Jiwoo was standing in front of a small coffee shop in town. It was Sooyoung’s favorite, and she went there often. Jiwoo peered through the window, nearly pressing her face against the glass as she looked inside.

An elderly couple sat in the corner, a group of teenagers who probably attended the public school sat near the door, and several young adults were scattered throughout, working on their laptops. But Sooyoung was nowhere to be found.

Jiwoo stepped back from the window, bummed. The coffeeshop was a dead end. This time, she had  _ thoroughly _ exhausted all of Sooyoung’s routine whereabouts. And she had risked her ass getting caught sneaking out for nothing. 

She took another step back, looking at her reflection in the large window that overlooked the street. Her hair looked so… plain. She brushed it behind her ears, but it only pronounced the roundness of her cheeks. Jiwoo quickly ran her fingers through it until it sat parted on either side of her head. 

Maybe she should try something new. Like a half-up half-down style. Or put it in a ponytail. Though she didn’t look as good with a low ponytail, like Sooyoung did. High ponytails looked better on her.

As her thoughts drifted, she almost didn’t notice the change in her reflection. Jiwoo suddenly stopped combing her fingers through her hair and squinted at the window. The face that was peering back at her was most definitely not her own. 

Jiwoo spun around quickly, expecting to find a girl standing behind her, but all she saw was the rest of the street. She looked back at the shop window, and her reflection had returned to normal. 

She exhaled shakily, trying to slow her beating heart, which was practically roaring in her ears. It was so loud, it drowned out everything around her. But then she realized that it literally  _ was _ drowning out everything, because the world had fallen completely silent.

Jiwoo looked around in shock. The cars on the street weren’t moving. People on the sidewalk were paused mid-stride. Jiwoo walked up to the window slowly and looked inside once more. Customers sat at tables, frozen in time as they sipped their coffee or chatted with friends.

Then, all at once, everything continued to move, as if it had never been frozen to begin with. The silence that had blanketed her ears was now replaced with the hum of the town, nearly causing her to clap her hands down over them. Was it always that loud?

Jiwoo stepped away from the window, nearly bumping into someone on the sidewalk, who grumbled at her.

Did anyone seen that? Did anyone notice they had just been frozen?

As Jiwoo stood, trying desperately to collect her thoughts, she felt herself sway on her feet as a wave of dizziness washed over her head. Before she knew it, the world turned sideways and she fell to the ground. 

“Are you alright?! Please wake up.”

Someone was shaking her shoulder vigorously. Jiwoo groaned, opening her eyes. She realized with a start that she was lying on the ground in front of the coffee shop. She must have fainted suddenly.

“Oh thank goodness. I caught you just in time; you could have hit your head in that fall.”

Jiwoo looked up to see someone cradling her in their arms. She looked slightly older, her reddish-brown hair falling around her face as she peered down at Jiwoo.

Suddenly remembering the situation, Jiwoo struggled to stand up. Her legs were still a little shaky, and the girl helped her to her feet. Jiwoo’s face burned red with embarrassment, and she quickly let go of the other girl’s hand.

“Are you sure you’re okay to be standing right now?” The girl asked, worried. “Maybe you should lay down.”

Jiwoo shook her head and then stopped when black spots started to appear in her vision. “Um, I’m okay, thank you. I should get going.”

The girl looked like she wanted to object, but Jiwoo walked away before she could open her mouth, leaving her to watch the retreating figure of the younger girl. 

_ What just happened? _

* * *

Yeojin looked up when she heard the front door open and close. She sat up on her bed just as Haseul entered the room, setting her bag down on the desk. In the other corner of the room, Yeojin’s school uniform sat on a spare chair, untouched.

“Hey.” Yeojin said, her voice slightly scratchy from its lack of use.

“Hey.” Haseul said, flopping down on the mattress next to the younger girl. “Do anything interesting today?”

Yeojin played with the edge of the comforter. “Not really. Unless you count re-reading your comics for the fourth time. You?”

“Hmm. Well as I was walking back from school I caught a girl who fainted on the sidewalk.”

Yeojin shot her friend a look, thinking Haseul must be joking with her, but she looked serious. Then she glanced at her uniform. Even though she had been back for a few weeks, she felt no motivation to leave the warmth and comfort of her two houses.

Since she was rescued, she and her friends decided that it would be best for Yeojin to stay either with Haseul, or with Jinsoul, Jungeun, and Yerim. BbCorp already knew where her uncle’s apartment was, so she wouldn’t be safe there. And Haseul lived alone, so there was no risk of anyone finding out about her return.

Yeojin had decided not to tell anyone outside her immediate friend group that she had been found. She didn’t want to get involved or be questioned for the police case; that would only risk her being exposed as a mutant. Again.

“Yeojin?”

Yeojin looked up to see Haseul watching her with concern in her eyes.

“Uh, sorry. Guess I zoned out.” Yeojin mumbled. “What’s up?”

“I was just asking if you heard about that roller rink that finally reopened.” Haseul said softly. “You know, the one we used to hang out at all the time.”

Yeojin nodded. Her, Haseul, Hyunjin, and Heejin used to visit the roller rink every other weekend back when they were in middle school. If she was being honest with herself, she really missed their outings. She missed her life when things weren’t so… complicated.

“Well I was thinking maybe we should go there today.” Haseul said. “The four of us. Like it used to be.”

Yeojin shook her head quickly. “No, I can’t. They could find me.”

Haseul reached out and laid her hand gently on her friend’s arm. “Listen, I know you’re scared, and you have every reason to be. I’m not saying we throw caution to the wind or anything.” She said. “But I want to cheer you up, and I know you used to love going there.”

Yeojin gripped her arms, her heart beating in her chest. 

“I don’t want to push you out of your comfort zone, I just want you to consider indulging in something that might make you happy.” Haseul said. And then, “You know I’m not going to let anyone hurt you ever again.”

Yeojin nodded, leaning against her best friend. “Yeah, I know.” Then she let out a sigh that was filled with too much emotion and knowledge for someone her age. Haseul meant well, even though neither of them could predict what their futures might hold. Safety was never a given in the world they were growing up in, but her promise was still comforting to hear. 

“Besides,” Haseul said. “I’m sure you’re getting tired of playing board games all day.” 

“No, I actually don’t mind playing them.” Yeojin said, flicking a speck of dust off the blanket.

“Really?” Haseul asked with mock surprise. “I thought you were  _ bored _ of them.”

Yeojin turned her head to look at her friend with a deadpan expression.

Haseul raised her eyebrows, failing to stifle a giggle. “What? I told you I can be funny.”

Yeojin rolled her eyes. “If you have to say that you’re funny, then you aren’t. And that pun was horrible. Point in case.” Then she sighed. “But… I have been feeling a little cooped up in here.” She said quietly. Her eyes traveled to her favorite bucket hat, sitting on the desk. “I suppose we could go out for a few hours.”

Haseul smiled. “C’mon, let’s get dressed.”

Yeojin pulled a blue jersey over her white long-sleeve. Next to her, Haseul tied her hair up into a high ponytail, and wrapped a white headband around her head. Yeojin moved over to her desk and picked up her bucket hat. Underneath, sat a pair of Haseul’s hoop earrings. Yeojin picked them up and put them in her ears. Just because she was in hiding, didn’t mean she couldn’t look stylish too.

As she admired her outfit in the full-length mirror, Haseul came to stand behind her.

“Aww, you look so cute!” She said, trying to pinch her cheeks before Yeojin smacked her. “Okay, okay, sorry. All ready to go?”

“Almost.” Yeojin said. She opened a drawer and pulled out a white face mask. “Okay, now I’m ready.”

The ride over was fairly uneventful. Yeojin held a white-knuckled grip on the edges of the passenger seat. Haseul kept looking over at her with a worried expression, but Yeojin ignored her.

When they pulled into the parking lot, Heejin and Hyunjin were waiting for them at the entrance. They ran over to them, smiling. Heejin had her hair curled into pigtails, with a white visor that shielded her eyes, and a white tee that said: “cute af”. Hyunjin wore a striped shirt with a white collar underneath a yellow jacket. 

Yeojin opened the car door and stepped out with shaky legs. Heejin and Hyunjin each gave her a quick hug once she had shut the door. Her legs shook a little less as she held their hands.

Inside, the rink was bustling with activity. The four girls wouldn’t have a problem hiding in the crowd. Couples were skating together, friends were competing to see who could move the fastest, and kids were running around the arcade machines. Bubble pop music played from the speakers overhead.

Yeojin felt her heart pounding in her throat as her eyes swept over everything.

“Should we go get our skates?” Haseul asked behind her.

The girls looked over to the front desk where a girl with pink hair was handing a pair of roller skates to someone. She wore a simple, white shirt under a pair of overalls. As she finished thanking her customer, she looked over at the group who just entered her rink. Immediately, her eyes locked onto Yeojin, widening in surprise.

_ No, no, this can’t be happening _ .

Yeojin took a step backwards and bumped into Haseul, who let out a sound of surprise. Blood rushed in her ears. Her stomach felt like it had turned to ice.

Before she could do or say anything, the pink-haired girl was already walking towards them. 

“We have to go.” Yeojin whispered, her words filled with dread. “We need to leave.”

“What’s wrong?” Hyunjin asked, unaware of the quickly-approaching threat. 

“They found me. They found me.” Yeojin said, stumbling over her words as they rushed out of her mouth, faster and faster. She tried to take another step back but her legs had turned to jelly. She was frozen in place.

Haseul looked between her friend and the girl with pink hair, connecting the dots. She stepped in front of Yeojin, and her friend gripped the back of her shirt in fear. Haseul could feel her pulse rising as she locked eyes with the owner of the rink. 

“Who are you?” Haseul demanded. Heejin and Hyunjin grasped the situation and moved so they were standing on either side of Yeojin, shielding her.

The girl with pink hair came to a stop in front of her, finally tearing her gaze away from Yeojin to meet Haseul’s eyes. “My name is Vivi.” She said simply. “I own this rink.”

Haseul frowned, and Vivi tilted her head slightly to the side. “No, I mean who are you, and what do you want with our friend?” She said, her voice low, on the edge of threatening. 

Vivi smiled. “I saw her aura as soon as she came in.” She explained. “It’s orange. Just like the aura I felt when I woke up.”

“Aura?” Heejin asked, glancing at Yeojin. “What aura?”

“The light surrounding her.” Vivi said. “Yours is pink. Hers is yellow.” She pointed to Hyunjin. “And yours is green.” She said to Haseul.

“So you can see everyone’s aura?” Heejin asked suspiciously. 

Vivi giggled. “No, humans don’t have them. But you do.”

Her words sent chills down the four girls’ spines. She knew who they were.

“You need to decide if you’re a threat to us or not.” Haseul practically growled. “Because my friend thinks you are, and if that’s true, it won’t end up good for you.”

Vivi studied Haseul for a second, looking her up and down before nodding. Unbeknownst to Hasel, her aura was much larger and brighter than that of her friends. “I am not a threat to any of you.” Vivi said solemnly. “I would never wish to hurt my creator.”

The three girls frowned at that, looking between Vivi and Yeojin in confusion.

“You mean… they aren’t controlling you?” Yeojin said, speaking for the first time as she timidly poked her head out from behind Haseul. 

Vivi shook her head. “No one controls me.” She said with slight annoyance. “I escaped the day the alarms distracted the human scientists.”

Yeojin stepped out from behind Haseul. “That was the day I escaped too.” 

“Wait, what is happening?” Haseul asked, holding her hands up. “What did you mean when you said Yeojin was your creator?” She asked Vivi. Heejin and Hyunjin also looked at Vivi with confused expressions, but it was Yeojin who spoke.

“I brought her to life.” She said quietly, looking down at the ground.

_ The crumpled body. The screams— _

“Well, she brought me back to life.” Vivi said. Yeojin’s head shot up. “I suppose I was a person like you before I woke up in that lab. But I can’t remember much from that time.”

“Like us?” Hyunjin asked. “Not a human?” Vivi nodded.

“Wait, I feel like I recognize you.” Haseul said, frowning. Then she snapped her fingers. “You’re Ara! Aren’t you? Your hair is shorter. And pinker.”

Vivi rubbed the back of her neck. “Yes, that is the name I used to go by.”

“So then what are you doing here?” Haseul asked. “I read that you went missing several months ago.”

Vivi looked around the roller rink.  _ Her  _ roller rink. “I needed a place to stay, to find supplies to build myself a battery pack.” She mused. “My grandmother passed this rink down to me before. People seem to be happy that it is open again.” She smiled, turning back to look at the four girls. “And it allowed me to find my creator.”

Yeojin looked into the android’s eyes—into Vivi’s eyes. They were filled with love and compassion, unlike what she had expected. She felt her throat tighten as tears began to fill her eyes and slip down her cheeks.

Vivi’s eyes widened. “Are you okay?” She asked. “Your body scan says that your vitals are normal, though your muscles are a little weak, and you are recovering from malnourishment.”

Yeojin nodded, taking a hesitant step forward. Her friends watched her with wide eyes too, as she took another step. And another. Until she was standing in front of Vivi.

As the young girl tentatively wrapped her arms around her, the android’s eyes widened. “What are you doing?” She asked.

“Hugging you.” Yeojin whispered.

“I see…” Vivi said. “According to the internet, hugging can help you express emotions that words can’t. It can also lower your cortisol levels, and naturally boost oxytocin, which is important in establishing relationships based on trust.”

Yeojin stepped away, smiling as she brushed her tears away. “Yeah, I guess so.” She chuckled. “We probably have a lot to talk about. And if you want to blend in with these people better, I can help you dye your hair.”

Vivi smiled slowly. “I’d like that.”

* * *

Sooyoung struck her ending pose. The music faded slowly into the background, and she straightened up, wiping the sweat off her forehead. With laboured breath, she walked over to the stereo and grabbed her water bottle.

_ Perfect. You have to be perfect. _

Sooyoung set her water bottle down and hit the play button on the speakers. She walked back to the center of the room and closed her eyes. The music began to play, and she let it flood through her veins.

Then, on her cue, she leapt into the air. It wasn’t the most complicated piece she had ever practiced, but it wasn’t the easiest either. The choreography was a combination of ballet and jazz moves. She twirled and flew across the floor, completing a series of pirouettes and leaps. Her muscles screamed, probably from over-exertion, but she pushed through the routine. 

She hit her final pose again, lifting her arms up so they extended from her sides, and then slowly letting them fall to a rest at waist height. Like wings.

Sooyoung had always been light on her feet—that’s what made her such an amazing dancer. She only realized why when she turned nine.

Sweat dripped down the sides of her face, plastering her loose hair to her skin as she glared at her reflection. She was too slow. Her turns were becoming sloppy. She needed to leap off the floor with more strength, but not too much, or she would overshoot her landing.

Sooyoung stood in the center of the dance studio, breathing heavily. She spent most of her free time dancing; it made her feel free. Which was kind of ironic. Considering her mother had been the one to send her to dance lessons as a kid.

_ You must be better. _

Dancing gave her wings. Dancing allowed her to fly. Without it, she felt trapped. Like a caged bird. 

Sooyoung grabbed her water bottle and took a long drink, her tears mixing with her sweat. She quickly wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. It was just like her to let her memories distract her from what she was doing. Even when they were kilometers apart, her mother wouldn’t leave her alone. Sooyoung took a deep breath, listening to the sound of her heart beating in her chest to ground herself to the present.

When she looked up, she caught a slight movement in the corner of her eyes. She glanced over her shoulder, but the studio was empty. Sooyoung turned around and set her water bottle down once more before hitting play on the stereo. 

After she ran through her dance a few more times, she saw a flicker of movement in the reflection of the mirror. Sooyoung turned, looking at the windows facing the hallway, but there was no one there. 

Determined to confirm her suspicions, she marched over to the door, flung it open, and stuck her head outside. To her right, underneath the windows, sat a girl. As soon as she had seen Sooyoung peeking out into the hallway, she had curled into a ball with her knees tucked up against her chest, and her head buried in her arms.

Sooyoung raised an eyebrow and walked over to her. The girl didn’t move or acknowledge her presence.

Sooyoung cleared her throat. “Were you watching me?”

The girl on the ground let out a squeak and hugged herself tighter. She sat still, slightly trembling, in hopes that the older girl might walk away. When she realized Sooyoung was still waiting for an answer, she looked up. At the sight of Sooyoung standing above her, sweaty and annoyed with her arms crossed over her chest, she let out another squeak and hid her face once more. The girl quickly nodded her head, buried in her arms. Sooyoung looked the girl up and down, noticing that her ears were bright red.

“Why?” Sooyoung asked.

The girl peeked up at her once more. There was no anger in Sooyoung’ voice, only curiosity. Her arms were still crossed over her chest, but the annoyance in her eyes had disappeared.

The girl said something quietly, but it was muffled by the sleeves of her yellow uniform.

“Sorry, I didn’t get that.” Sooyoung said, and crouched down, so they were level.

The girl lifted her head a little more as she fidgeted with the hem of her skirt. Her eyes flitted towards Sooyoung’s, and then moved quickly away. “Um, I said, because you’re really good. At dancing.” Her cheeks burned red and she bit her lip so hard that Sooyoung thought she might break the skin.

Sooyoung also blushed. “Oh, thanks.” She said, scratching the back of her head. “Um, what’s your name? I’m Ha Sooyoung.”

“I know—” The girl said quickly before slapping her hand across her own mouth. “I mean, my name is Kim Jiwoo.” She added.

Sooyoung’s mouth twitched, almost forming a chuckle. She had certainly never met anyone who behaved the same way Jiwoo did. She was pretty funny. And cute.

_ What? _

“So are you a fourth year like me?” Sooyoung asked, sitting fully on the ground next to Jiwoo. She wasn’t really sure how people made friends, but getting to know others seemed like the best place to start. And Jiwoo already seemed to like her, so maybe Sooyoung could finally make her first friend.

“No,” Jiwoo shook her head. She was still curled up, but she seemed a little calmer with Sooyoung sitting next to her. “I’m in my third year. But we share english class.”

Jiwoo then knocked her fist on her own skull, berating herself for something. Sooyoung stifled a giggle at her antics.

“Oh, wow, you’re in that upper level english class?” Sooyoung asked. “You must be smart.”

Jiwoo’s mouth dropped open as she stared at Sooyoung. Then she closed it before saying, “What? No, no, no way. I’m totally not smart. I mean, I’m definitely not as smart as you.” Her eyes widened slightly and she waved her hands. “You know, like in class yesterday. That interpretation of the poem line was beautiful.”

Sooyoung smiled. “Oh, thanks.” Then she noticed something on the ground next to Jiwoo. “Do you like photography?”

Jiwoo squeaked, noticing her camera out in the open. “Um, yes!” She said in a high-pitched voice. “I like photography! I definitely wasn’t taking pictures of you or anything!” Then she smacked her forehead before saying, “I just… carry it with me everywhere.”

Sooyoung suppressed another giggle. “O-kay.” She said. “Well that’s pretty cool, you must be passionate about it.”

Jiwoo nodded, and Sooyoung watched her bangs bounce up and down. Her eyes shimmered with light, and her bottom lip was slightly red from where she had bit it.

“Do you… want to get coffee with me some time?” Sooyoung asked.

Jiwoo looked over at her with wide eyes.

“Um, because you seem like a nice person.” Sooyoung said. “If-if you don’t want to, that’s okay. We would have to sneak off the grounds, so I understand if you don’t want to get in trouble.” This time it was her turn to bite her lip, afraid Jiwoo wouldn’t want to hang out with her.

“Yeah, that would be fun.” Jiwoo said, a slight smile on her face. 

Sooyoung smiled too. “Great! So I’ll see you around, then?” She asked. “Oh, wait here a second.”

She ran back inside the dance studio and rummaged through her bag until she found a pen. Then she ripped off a corner of her notebook paper and wrote her number on it. Sooyoung ran back outside to find Jiwoo in the same spot she had left her.

Sooyoung handed her the paper. “Here.” She said. “So we can stay in touch.”

If Jiwoo’s cheeks had been red before, her whole face now turned crimson. “Thanks.” She spluttered. “I’ll text you when I get back to my dorm.” And with that, she picked up her camera and almost sprinted down the hallway.

“Bye!” Sooyoung called after her. Then she turned around, a smile on her face, and walked back inside the dance room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for updating this almost two days after I was supposed to. But then again, I'm not obligated to write this for anyone but myself, especially since I'm not being paid to do it. Procrastination and my personal life got in the way. At least y'all will get the next update in less than a week now!  
> Also writing Jiwoo is really fun.  
> Also also, I really didn't have to describe 1/3's outfits from EDILY bc you all know what they look like, but I definitely did spent extra time writing them because why not?
> 
> Insta - @ace.aesthetics  
> Twitter - @kitkat_tat


	8. Mahpiohanzia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure you're all sensing a trend with the order in which the girls are being introduced.

Chaewon wandered the halls of the Eden Academy for Girls, her blank eyes roaming over the architecture that was just as pretentious as its name. She wore the school uniform: a yellow checkered jacket and skirt over a white cardigan. Her black shoes moved silently across the carpeted hallways, and her black hair lay flat against her back.

Barely anyone ever ventured out to the C wing of the school, which was where she currently was. The rooms had long been abandoned because they had fallen into a state of disrepair. Sometimes kids from the public school would sneak into the classrooms to throw parties or drink alcohol or whatever, but those enrolled in the boarding school didn’t. 

Chaewon liked it that way. No students meant complete silence, and complete silence meant there was room for the thoughts in her head to yell. 

_ Nobody. _

She walked down the hallway, glancing at the empty rooms, her shadow stretching eerily behind her. Eventually, she stopped, turning her head to peer into a large room with tall doors. A broken chandelier hung from the ceiling. 

Chaewon stepped into the room, watching her shadow move on the opposite wall. It stood taller than her, but looked gaunt, and thin. As she walked towards it, her shadow moved with her. As she held her palm out to it, her shadow held its palm out too. 

Slowly, she pressed her palm against her shadow’s. With a gasp, she realized it felt  _ real _ . It felt like human flesh. She nearly jerked her hand away, but suddenly she froze, staring at her shadow. 

The darkness of it began to travel from the wall until it covered her hand. Strangely, she didn’t feel any pain, just a strange coldness as the shadow continued to travel up her arm. By the time it reached her elbow, her heart was thudding in her chest. At last, she took her hand away from the wall.

Chaewon stepped back and looked down at her hand, but it was no longer covered by the darkness. With blood rushing in her ears, she turned to leave the room, when she halted in her tracks. 

In the doorway of the room she had entered, sat a deep, red apple. Chaewon crept up to the doorway and peered into the hallway, but there was no one to be seen. With a shaking hand, she bent down and picked up the red fruit.

She looked around once more to see if anyone was trying to play a prank on her, but the C wing lay silent. 

Chaewon studied the apple in her hand. It looked, felt, and… smelled real. She wondered whether she should leave it on the ground, or take it with her. If she left it on the floor, it may begin to rot, not unlike some of the floorboards from water damage and neglect. Yet something inside of her, perhaps a voice at the back of her head, told her to take it with her.

So she did.

Chaewon wandered back down the halls of the abandoned wing of the building with a red apple in one hand. She continued to traipse past doorways and corridors and endless rooms, not really caring, or knowing, where she was going. 

_ Nobody. _

At the sound of voices, Chaewon halted in her tracks. Several meters away, she could hear the sound of footsteps. Looking around frantically, she dove behind the nearest door. The voices were drawing closer, and she shut it slowly, obscuring herself in the darkness.

The footsteps drew closer and closer. Chaewon held her breath, worried that the sound of her pounding heart might give her away.

But the footsteps walked past her, and eventually faded as they turned a corner and left. Chaewon relaxed, sighing to herself as she sat in the dark cupboard that must have once been a janitor closet. Now, it was just filled with spiderwebs.

Chaewon pushed the door open slowly and peered into the hallway to make sure no one was lurking, before stepping outside, the red apple still clutched in her hand. She started to walk down the hall when she stopped, and frowned. She realized suddenly that she didn’t know where she was. For all the time that she spent wandering the section of the school, she had actually gotten  _ lost _ . 

Chaewon tisked her tongue to chide herself, annoyed that she had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t kept track of where she was going. Well, that just meant she could waste more time getting back. The more time she spent lost in unexplored hallways, the less she had to interact with the other students of the school.

_ You’re nobody _ .

She continued walking down the hallway, her arms hanging at her sides like deadweights, unmoving. As she rounded the corner, she crashed into someone.

Chaewon reeled back, confused, because she hadn’t heard any footsteps in the corridor like she had earlier. In her surprise, she dropped the apple in her hand.

“Sorry.” Chaewon apologized. The girl in front of her was rubbing her arm a bit from the impact. She had long, brown hair, and was dressed in the same uniform as her.

The girl bent down and picked up the apple. “No worries, that was my bad too.” She said, and handed the apple back to Chaewon, who took it begrudgingly, as it wasn’t even hers to begin with. 

As Chaewon began to turn away from her and continue to make sense of her whereabouts, the girl called out to her.

“Wait!” She said, and Chaewon glanced back at her. “Um, sorry. It’s just that you seem to know your way around here, and I’m a little lost. If you wouldn’t mind… could you direct me to the main hall?”

Chaewon groaned internally. Now not only was she lost, but there was someone asking her for directions. 

“Actually, I’m a bit turned around myself.” Chaewon said flatly. 

“Oh, I see.” The girl said, and Chaewon prayed that she would go away and try to find her own way back. “Then how about we look for the rest of civilization together?”

Chaewon actually had to physically restrain herself from pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance. She didn’t want to come off as blatantly rude, so she said, “Sure.” 

The two girls picked a random direction and started walking. They were silent as they walked, and Chaewon secretly hoped it would stay that way, and she would return to her room without another word spoken between her and the mystery girl next to her.

Of course, she should have figured by that point that wishing was useless.

“My name is Ha Sooyoung, by the way.” The girl said, shattering the peace. “What’s yours?”

“Park Chaewon.” She responded, in as monotone a voice as she could muster.

“That’s a pretty name.” Sooyoung said, and Chaewon didn’t answer. She wasn’t sure what she would even say if she wanted to. Thank her? Tell her that her name was pretty too?

They fell into silence once more, the only sound filling the silence was their footsteps across the corridors. Chaewon gripped the apple in her hand, searching for something—anything that looked familiar to her so she could leave the damn place.

“So what year are you?” Sooyoung asked, clearly oblivious to the awkward air that hung between them, or the fact that Chaewon wanted to have nothing to do with her.

_ No one cares about you. _

“Second.” Chaewon responded.

“Oh, that’s cool!” Sooyoung said. “I’m in my fourth year.”

Chaewon felt a prickle of shame creep into her stomach. She supposed she could stand to be more respectful, especially when talking to someone older than herself. But Sooyoung didn’t really seem to mind her cold attitude. 

At long last, the two girls finally reached a hallway that Chaewon recognized. She beckoned Sooyoung along the right path. A wave of relief seemed to wash over her, and she relaxed knowing she was once again fully aware of her surroundings.

Just as they were reaching the end of the abandoned wing of the building, Sooyoung turned to her. “Do you want to hang out sometime?” She asked, nonchalant.

Chaewon actually stopped walking and looked at her, disbelief written on her face. “What?” She blurted. Was this girl really asking her to hang out after having known her for all of eleven minutes?

“Well, you seem like a cool person.” Sooyoung said. “So I thought I would ask.” 

‘Cool’ was definitely one way to describe herself, Chaewon thought sardonically. She was about to respond when Sooyoung continued talking.

“I used to eat lunch on a balcony outside that pretty much no one else knows about. To avoid people, you know?” She said. Chaewon stayed silent, listening to her. “And then I met this girl named Jiwoo, and I discovered that hanging out with people isn’t so bad. It’s just… when I saw you walking around here, it reminded me of who I used to be. So I thought I’d ask. In case you ever want company.”

Chaewon was speechless. Absolutely speechless. 

Eventually, though, she regained her senses. Sooyoung was looking at her with a slightly worried expression, as she watched the wheels spinning in Chaewon’s head. The younger girl cleared her throat. “If I’m wandering around here with no friends, then why are you here?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sooyoung rubbed the back of her neck. “My friend Yerim asked me to meet her here, but when I tried to find her I got lost.” She explained. “So I figured I’d just regroup with her here.”

Chaewon hummed, unimpressed. “Well, thank you for the generous offer, but I’m good.” She said flatly, and then spun on her heel and started walking back to the dorms.

“Think about it!” Sooyoung called after her. But Chaewon didn’t turn around.

She didn’t need friends. She didn’t need company. She didn’t.

* * *

Yerim stepped away from the wall and let her hand fall to her side. She was standing in a dark stairwell in the boarding school outside town, having been on her way to meet up with Sooyoung.

She had been descending the stairs when a dream-like trance came over her, and she stopped on the landing. She walked up to the wall and placed her hand against it, standing there for several minutes. She felt the presence of a mutant, seemingly just beyond it. When she placed her hand against the wall, it felt like she was touching another person, and not the cold, gray stone.

Yerim shook her head, still in the process of waking up from her stupor. She looked down at her hand and frowned. She had just been holding an apple.

She sighed. There went her lunch.

_ Yerim, do you want an apple or some cherries? Yerim, we love you. _

Yerim clutched her chest, breathing heavily. Then she shook her head again, this time more vigorously. There was no point in dwelling on the past, even if it seemed to be bombarding her more and more frequently. She leaned against the wall in an attempt to compose herself.

_ We love you. _

Yerim shut her eyes and slid down to the ground, her hands pressed against the sides of her head. She didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t want to remember that day. She didn’t want to remember how her parents died.

Hot tears slid out from under her eyelids and rolled down her cheeks, falling onto her knees. A small whimper rose up in her throat as she curled in on herself, wrapping her arms around her legs. Her tears fell faster as the ache in her heart grew. As if it had happened just yesterday.

They had been on a picnic. At the beach. Her dad had packed the lunch. Her mom had driven them there. It was only her second time seeing the ocean. She was eight.

Yerim didn’t remember much. She remembered sticking her feet in the hot sand. She remembered the sound of the waves rolling onto the shore. She remembered choosing the cherries over the apple.

She remembered the shouts. The screams. Something bad happened. Someone bad. A mutant.

She never knew if it was intentional, or an accident. One moment she had been showing her mother sea shells, and the next thing she knew, her mother was telling her to run.

_ Run, Yerim! Don’t stop! Run fast! _

There was shouting coming from further down the beach, but she didn’t know what it was about. Then she ran, and she was scared. So scared that she didn’t look back, until

_ Yerim, we love you. _

The explosion knocked her off her feet, and she flew back into the sand. The next thing she knew, she was laying in a hospital bed. She didn’t have any injuries, only slight bruising. The doctors told her she was lucky. But she wasn’t.

Yerim hiccupped, leaning her head against the concrete wall of the stairwell. She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. When she had first discovered what exactly her powers were, she thought it was a sick joke. And not only did she share something in common with the person who had killed her parents, but she had the power to find others like them.

She thought the universe cursed her with such a power, like it was punishing her once more. But then she met Jinsoul. And Jungeun. And Heejin, Yeojin, Hyunjin, Haseul, and Sooyoung. And she learned that maybe there were those in the world that weren’t the monsters she had made them out to be as a child. She wasn’t the monster she made herself out to be. Because of her powers, she had made so many friends.

After a while, the tears finally stopped spilling down her cheeks. Yerim sighed, her chest feeling strangely light. She stood up, leaning against the wall, her legs a little wobbly. Sooyoung was probably waiting for her, so Yerim pulled her phone out and sent her a quick text. 

She brushed off her skirt and continued her descent down the stairs. As she began to walk down the hall, Yerim turned the corner and bumped into someone.

“Oh, sorry!” She said, stumbling backwards.

“Ah, that was my fault!” The girl said, rubbing her head. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

As both girls took a step back and looked each other over, their eyes widened in unison. Yerim’s mouth fell open, and the girl gasped and pointed at her.

“I’ve seen you before.” Yerim said, at the same time the girl blurted, “You’re the person I saw in the window!”

“So you saw me too.” Yerim said.

“Yeah.” The girl replied. “Why did I see you in the window of a coffee shop? Who are you?”

Yerim held her hands up. “I promise I can explain.” She said. “My powers allow me to find mutants like myself. I’m Choi Yerim… I, uh, recently moved here.”

“Mutants?” The girl asked, staring at her incredulously. “I’m not… you must be mistaken. I can’t be a mutant.” She said, taking a step backwards. 

Yerim frowned, wondering if she had seen a human in her dreams for the first time. But that had never happened before, so why would it now?

She studied the girl facing her, who was looking down at her hands. There was shock and fear in her wide eyes. The way she carried herself told Yerim she wasn’t afraid of her, but rather, possibly, of herself. Which meant she didn’t know what she was yet. Crap.

“Uh…” Yerim said, which was a great way to start the conversation. How had Jinsoul went about explaining everything to her before? “So, don’t be scared.”

The girl looked up at her with a stricken expression. Okay. Not the best choice of words. She really wasn’t great at this.

“What’s your name?” Yerim asked in what she hoped was a soothing voice.

“Kim-Kim Jiwoo.” The girl responded.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Yerim said, cringing at her awkwardness. “Listen, my powers allow me to find mutants, not humans.” She said. Jiwoo watched her intently. “So that’s proof already. I think… I think you already know that what I’m telling you is true, right? You just don’t want to believe it.”

Jiwoo nodded shakily, and took a deep breath. “The other day, right after I saw your reflection.” She said, staring at her hands, her eyes reliving her own memories. “Or whatever it was I saw. Right after that, everything around me froze. And it was silent. There was no noise, and I was the only one moving, and I could only hear myself.” She looked up at Yerim again. “You-you think I’m…?”

Yerim nodded. “I know it’s hard to accept.” She said. “I had a hard time accepting it myself.” When Jinsoul had told her what she was, the last thing she wanted to do was believe it. 

Jiwoo silently absorbed her words. “It’s just that there’s so much happening all at once.” She said quietly. “First these powers, and then Sooyoung notices me for the first time in three years—”

“Wait a minute.” Yerim said, interrupting her. “You know Sooyoung?”

“Yeah, why?” Jiwoo asked.

“I know her too!” Yerim exclaimed. “I met her barely a week before I saw you in my dream. She’s the reason I came to this school.”

Jiwoo frowned, putting the pieces together. “Wait, you don’t mean she’s… also.”

“Oh.” Yerim said, feeling dumb. “I forgot you didn’t know before. Yeah, she’s like us. She can fly.”

“She can fly?!” Jiwoo practically screeched. Then she rubbed her temples. “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I never knew.” She muttered to herself. “No wonder she leaves the grounds so often. Lucky… it’s so easy for her to get over the fences.”

“Yeah, I was actually on my way to meet her.” Yerim said. “Do you want to come with me?”

Jiwoo rubbed her arm, thinking. “Yes.” She said after a few moments. “I’ll come with you.”

Yerim smiled. She supposed this must have been what it felt like when Jinsoul had taken her under her wing. “We’ve all been where you are now, you know.” She said as they began to walk down the hallway. “We can help you figure everything out.”

“Okay.” Jiwoo said, smiling too. 

They walked down the hallway and entered wing C of the school, which had been abandoned for several years. Yerim wondered why she had sensed the presence of a mutant in this particular location, but it didn’t matter. Her and Jiwoo walked down the dusty corridors for several minutes, getting to know each other, before Yerim received a text message from Sooyoung, telling her to meet her at the main hall instead. 

When they reached the main hall, they found Sooyoung waiting for them. She was slightly surprised to see Jiwoo with Yerim, and smiled in greeting. Jiwoo waved in return, blushing a little.

“Did you see anyone around here?” Yerim asked.

Sooyoung crossed her arms over her chest. “Yeah, actually. I think I met the person you were talking about.”

“That’s great!” Yerim said. “Where are they?”

Sooyoung sighed. “She didn’t seem interested in chatting with me.”

“O-oh.” Yerim said, deflating slightly. “Well, that’s okay. It’s not like we can force her to let us help her or anything.”

“Wait, why do we need to help her?” Jiwoo asked. “Is she like us?”

Yerim nodded. Sooyoung looked between the two of them, confused. “Wait a minute, are you telling me that you’re a—” She froze, glancing around. “You’re telling me that you’re special too?”

Jiwoo exhaled. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“We have a lot to talk about.” Yerim said, looking between the two girls as the three of them walked away to find somewhere with more privacy.

* * *

The next day, Chaewon sat in history class, doing her best to pay attention, but failing. No matter how hard she tried to retain the information being written down on the board, she just couldn’t do it. And the subject matter only made things worse.

“Who can tell me about the Human Protection Act, passed in 1953?” The teacher asked. 

A student in the front row raised their hand. “The Act was passed to protect humans from dangerous non-humans. It allows the military to use force against non-humans that pose a threat to humans.”

Chaewon rubbed her temples, feeling a headache sprouting. She had been feeling, well,  _ off _ since yesterday. The rest of the class faded into the background as she sunk into her own thoughts.

_ Non-human. _

She thought back to the strange girl who had offered to hang out with her yesterday. Thankfully neither of them shared any classes together, or Chaewon might have to endure more offers from her. After all, why anyone would want to spend time with her was quite a mystery. 

She flicked her black hair over her shoulder and tried to focus on the board, but her vision was blurry. Chaewon blinked and squinted, bringing the classroom into focus, but that only made the tension behind her eyes more intense. She rubbed her eyes lightly with her right hand and focused on the open textbook on her desk instead.

_ You’re a nobody. _

Chaewon felt sweat beading on her brow, and wondered faintly if she was coming down with a fever. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and placed it in her lap. Her stomach also felt like it was tied in knots, unnerving her.

She looked down at her hands and frowned, because a faint glow was surrounding them. She glanced around to see if anyone had noticed, but they were all facing forward, listening to the lecture.

In her lap, her hands were becoming brighter by the second, matched only by her rising heartbeat. Chaewon panicked. Someone was going to notice eventually at the rate they were increasing in intensity. She shoved her hands under her yellow blazer and under her armpits in an attempt to hide the glow as she stood up at her desk, her chair screeching backwards.

Everyone turned to look at the commotion.

“I’m not feeling well.” Chaewon said, her usually high-pitched voice even higher. “I have to go to the nurse’s office.” And then she bolted out of the room. 

Unknown to her, was that the girl sitting directly behind her had been watching her every move with an odd sort of curiosity. She watched Chaewon leave the room, frowning.

Chaewon ran down the hallway and quickly dashed inside the girl’s restroom. Thankfully it was unoccupied. She ducked inside the stall furthest from the door and latched it shut. Sweat was pouring down her neck and back, but she relaxed a little now that she was alone.

Shakily, she lifted her hands out in front of her face. She had to squint to get a good look at them, because they were as bright as flashlights. Chaewon turned her hands over, trying to see where the glow was coming from, but she couldn’t find a source. It seemed to be emitting from every inch of her skin.

She sucked in her breath, urging the tears in the corners of her eyes not to spill down her cheeks in fear. What the hell was going on with her? Was it related to her shadow yesterday?

Chaewon slumped down against the corner of the bathroom stall in misery. Something was wrong with her. Something was very wrong. As she finally allowed the hot tears to leak out of her eyes, she heard the door to the girl’s bathroom open.

She quickly hid her hands under her shirt and held her breath, hoping the person would finish their business and leave. The footsteps echoes across the white tiles, walking closer and closer to the stall she was hiding in. They stopped right next to the door, and Chaewon wanted to glare through the door to tell the intruder to go away.

There was a knock on the latched door. And then someone said, “Hello?”

“Occupied.” Chaewon said, her voice hoarse and scratchy. Her cheeks were still wet.

“Okay, um, I just came from class to see if you were alright.” The girl on the other side of the door said. 

“I’m fine.” Chaewon practically growled. “Just a stomach bug… or something.”

The girl hummed in response, but didn’t seem to believe her. “If you need help, I’m here for you.” She said softly. 

Chaewon didn’t even know who this girl was, and she was offering her help out of the blue. She wanted to scoff. Why was this school full of outgoing students? The pain behind her eyes was starting to build again, and Chaewon bit the inside of her mouth. “I don’t need help, I just…” She grabbed the sides of her head with her hands, their glow lighting up the stall and the bathroom.

“You just…” The girl pressed. For some reason, she wasn’t deterred by the strange glow.

“I just don’t know what’s happening to me!” Chaewon cried out, her voice bouncing off the walls of the bathroom. Tears began to flow down her cheeks once more, and she clutched her chest, sobbing. 

Once her crying died down a bit, and the pain in her head had lessened, she heard the girl say, “I feel that way too.”

Chaewon sniffed, wiping her tears on her sleeves. “You do?” She asked in a small voice.

“Yeah,” The girl said. “I feel like my entire world, my entire reality, has been flipped upside down. Things keep happening to me that I can’t explain, and it scares me.” She finished the sentence in a whisper.

Chaewon didn’t say anything for a second. “I thought I was the only one.” She said softly. 

“Me too” The girl said. Under the stall door, Chaewon watched her sit down and lean against the wall as she continued to talk. “I thought, ‘there’s no way that anyone else has ever experienced this shit before,’ but I was wrong.”

Chaewon looked down at her hands folded in her lap. With a start, she realized the glow around them had faded. They were back to normal. Standing on unsteady legs, she moved towards the door and opened it. The girl on the ground looked up at her tear-stained cheeks and stood up. 

“Here, I grabbed your stuff.” The girl said, handing Chaewon her backpack.

“Thanks.” Chaewon said gruffly, taking her bag from the girl. She looked down at her feet, suddenly not wanting to meet her eyes. “And for what you said. I guess I’m back to normal now.” She held up her hands. 

The girl smiled at her. “I’m Kim Jiwoo.” She said, sticking her hand out.

Chaewon looked at it for a second before shaking it with her own. “Park Chaewon.”

“Nice to meet you, Chaewon.” Jiwoo said, still smiling. “You know, I’m meeting with some people tomorrow after classes. They have special powers, like us. If you want to come with me, you can.”

Chaewon bit her lip, her eyes dropping to the ground again. “Um, thanks, but I think I’m okay.” She said quietly. “After today, I just need some time to myself.”

“That’s okay!” Jiwoo said reassuringly. “But if you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.” She added with a wink. “If you change your mind, we’ll be at the park across the street from the convenience store.” And with that, she turned and left the bathroom.

Chaewon watched her go, before setting her bag on the ground and turning to one of the sinks. She exhaled, studying her reflection in the mirror. To say she looked like crap was an understatement. Sighing, she turned the faucet on and rinsed her face a few times. After she dried off, she grabbed her bag and left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enter: Chaewon.  
> Okay so I said I really liked writing Jiwoo, but Chaewon is also up there. I just loved giving her so much attitude.   
> And Sooyoung is really just out here collecting friends like Pokemon, you go girl.
> 
> Insta - @ace.aesthetics  
> Twitter - @kitkat_tat


	9. Lucida

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who else is shook after stray kids' comeback? Just me? okay

Olivia sighed, gazing down at the manicured gardens around the school through a dirty window. In her pocket, her phone buzzed once. Probably another text message, but she didn’t check it. Instead, she watched as a girl with reddish brown hair and bangs emerged from one of the bushes next to the building wearing street clothes. Olivia frowned, wondering where she had snuck out of the building, or if she had jumped down from her dorm window. She watched as the girl looked around before bolting across the grounds and climbing over the iron and stone fence that surrounded the perimeter. Interesting.

Olivia stood up and followed her.

The girl walked ahead of her, skipping through the woods, her arms swinging at her sides. Olivia hung back, watching her from behind a tree. The girl bent down to look at a clump of flowers growing at the base of a tree before humming to herself as she kept going. She seemed happy. 

What did that feel like? To be happy? 

Olivia kept pace with the oblivious girl, letting her walk several meters before finding a different tree or bush to hide herself behind. Eventually, the trees gave way to hills, and she had to put more distance between the girl and herself, but she never noticed her presence.

She didn’t quite know why she had been so intrigued by the girl in front of her, and enough so that she had traveled all the way from the boarding school to the edge of town. There was something so captivating about her attitude. She was so… carefree. 

Olivia was not. 

She wondered if she ever could be carefree. While there was no doubt in her mind that she had the power to go anywhere she pleased, something held her back. Something was preventing her from doing just that. But the only problem was, she didn’t know what.

When they reached the edge of town, Olivia hid herself easily behind fences and cars. Her gaze wandered over the houses and corner stores she passed with a curious fascination. She rarely got the opportunity to explore the town on her own, if at all. 

After they walked for a few blocks, the girl walking in front of her turned and entered a small park. She looked around before skipping over to the swing set and sitting down on one of the seats. Olivia slunk off to the side and hid under the shade of a couple trees, slightly amazed that the girl  _ still _ had not noticed her. Aside from the two of them, the park was empty.

She watched the girl sway on the swings, dragging her feet in the wood chips. She wondered what she was doing all by herself. Surely she didn’t sneak out of school to sit at an empty playground alone. Was she waiting for someone?

_ All alone. _

Her question was soon answered, as two girls walked up the sidewalk and entered the park only a few minutes after the girl she had been following arrived. They spotted the girl on the swing immediately, and waved in greeting. Olivia recognized the two girls: one of them could make illusions, and the other could shapeshift into animals. She looked on as they walked over to the girl on the swing and began to chat with her. Obviously, it was some sort of scheduled meeting. The shapeshifter sat down on the swing next to the girl with bangs, while the illusionist leaned against a pole.

A few minutes later, two more girls entered the park. Olivia recognized both of them, but knew the taller one through an encounter a few months back. The taller one could teleport, and was seen on Mission 0917.

_ Monster _ . 

Mission 0917: destroy all buildings at the given location. Olivia carried it out swiftly, like she always did. There were no survivors. 

Correction: there was one survivor.

Olivia had hidden in the shadow of a tunnel as she looked at the destruction she had caused. Rubble lay on the ground, and some of it was on fire. Where a building once stood, there was simply… nothing. 

She glanced to her left in surprise to see a tall girl with wavy blonde hair walk up to where the entrance used to be. She looked around in shock, taking everything in. She didn’t cry, just looked. 

Olivia froze as the girl turned and scanned the area around her with wide eyes. Her eyes swept over the empty tunnel returning to the destruction in front of her. Then, she too disappeared. 

In the present moment, Olivia could feel mer muscles stiffen as she looked at the tall girl with blonde hair. Just like before, she scanned the area briefly, her eyes taking in the empty park, before returning her attention to her friends.

A cool feeling flooded through Olivia’s veins, and she only relaxed slightly as she watched the five girls in front of her continue to talk calmly amongst themselves. After a few more minutes, three girls crossed the street and entered the park, joining the girls by the swings. 

Olivia’s eyes widened as she watched them, because  _ she _ was here. The android was here. Her hair had changed colors, perhaps as an effect of being half-human. Rather than a pastel pink, it was now light brown, and bangs covered her forehead. So this was where she had gone after her escape.

She also recognized the two girls standing next to the android. One had the ability to manipulate the weather, and the other could give life. 

Olivia’s phone vibrated in her pocket, and she pulled it out, glancing at the message. The contact was unmarked, but she already knew who it was. With a sigh, she got up to leave, inconspicuously making her way to the exit. She had almost made it to the street when she bumped into someone’s shoulder.

“Sorry,” The girl said, looking at Olivia with wide eyes.

Olivia’s breath stopped, her heart pounding in her chest. Next to the girl she had bumped into, stood another, slightly taller girl with brown hair.  _ How many of them were there? _ It didn’t matter, because she had been seen, and she needed to leave.

So she walked past them without saying a word. 

* * *

Yerim watched the girl with black hair walk away from them before turning to Sooyoung, standing next to her.

“She’s a mutant.”

Sooyoung looked down at her, alarmed. “What?!” She asked.

“Yeah.” Yerim said. “I felt it when she bumped into me. She’s really powerful.” She didn’t know how or why she was able to tell that the girl was like them when she hadn’t been in the dreamscape. All she knew was that her feeling was right.

“Where do you think she’s going?” Sooyoung asked, looking at the spot where the girl had disappeared.

“I don’t know, but—”

“We have to go after her.” Sooyoung said.

“What?” Yerim said, spinning to face her. “No, I was going to say that we shouldn’t follow her. We don’t know who she is, and what if she’s dangerous?”

“Think about it.” Sooyoung said. “We’re the only ones in this park, and from the looks of it, she was watching us.” She pointed to the trees that had served as the girl’s hiding spot. “If she has ill intentions, then we definitely need to stop her. If she’s like us and just discovering her powers, then we owe it to her to help. Either way, we should follow her.”

Yerim crossed her arms over her chest, “I don’t know, I still think we should play it safe.” She said, looking off to the side.

“Every second we debate this, the further and further she gets away.” Sooyoung said. Her point hung in the air, glaringly true. If they were going to do something, they needed to do it now.

“...fine.” Yerim conceded at last. “But I don’t like this.”

“Just come on!” Sooyoung said, already running after the girl. Yerim sighed and raced after her, leaving the park and their friends behind them. 

As they rounded the corner onto the sidewalk, they saw the girl already sprinting away from them. Sooyoung and Yerim shared a look before running after her. By the time they reached the edge of the town, the sky had darkened considerably. Yerim grimaced as she looked up at the gray clouds that hung low in the sky.

They kept running, watching as the girl disappeared into the forest. Wind began to tear through the trees, and icy droplets of rain started to pelt the ground. What more, they could practically feel the energy radiating off the girl. It felt hot and cold at the same time. Yerim glanced at Sooyoung, worried, but they didn’t slow their pace as they followed her into the trees.

At last, they caught up to the girl. She was standing in a clearing with her back to them. Yerim and Sooyoung halted at the edge, afraid to get closer. A bolt of lightning split the sky directly above them, making both girls flinch.

Sooyoung stepped forward. “Hello!” She shouted over the howling wind and distant thunder. 

The girl didn’t turn around or acknowledge the girls’ presence. Yerim nudged Sooyoung’s arm.

“What’s your plan?” She hissed in a whisper.

“I don’t know.” Sooyoung whispered back. “I didn’t think this far ahead.”

Yerim almost smacked her own forehead. “Great, this is just great.” She muttered to herself, and Sooyoung rolled her eyes before returning her attention to the girl in front of them.

“My name is Ha Sooyoung, and this is Choi Yerim!” Sooyoung called across the clearing. “We’re like you! We can help you!”

That seemed to get the girl’s attention, as her body stiffened at Sooyoung’s words. Sooyoung lowered her hand slowly.

Suddenly, everything around them froze. The wind stopped blowing, and the droplets of rain that had been pelting them stopped falling, instead hovering, suspended in the air. Yerim and Sooyoung looked around in shock. Everything was silent. And then,

“I don’t need your help.”

The girl in front of them turned around slowly. Her eyes were bright, filled with brilliant, white light. Like the sun, but colder. Ice flooded the veins of the two girls standing in front of her, as they felt her power rolling towards them in waves.

Suddenly, an invisible force slammed into Yerim and Sooyoung, knocking them off their feet and sending them flying backwards. They landed forcefully on the muddy ground, gasping for air. 

Sooyoung groaned, moving her arms and forcing herself to sit upright. The icy rain soaked her hair and clothes as she looked around the clearing, only to find that the girl was nowhere to be found. 

“Well that could have gone better.” Sooyoung said, letting herself fall back against the ground.

Yerim lay on her back in the mud with her eyes closed. “Yeah, no shit.”

* * *

Chaewon laid in her room with the lights off. Outside, the sky was slowly darkening with clouds. She stared up at the ceiling with her arms outstretched and her palms facing up. On and off. On and off again. She turned the glow in her hands on and off for hours, the light bouncing off the ceiling and filling the room with a yellow glow each time. As she stared at the white plaster, Jiwoo’s words from the day before echoed in her head.

_ I’m meeting with some people tomorrow after classes. They have special powers, like us. _

Chaewon sighed, lowering her arms to rest at her sides on the mattress. She hadn’t gone to her classes today, but they would be ending right about now. She tilted her head to look out the window. Clouds hung low in the sky. It looked like a storm was coming.

She closed her eyes. All her life, she had been just ordinary. She never stuck out in the crowd. She was never special. Her performance in her classes had never been deemed ‘above average.’ Now, she had glowing lights in her hands. She was no longer just ordinary, but she wasn’t sure if that made her special, either.

Whether it was her siblings, or classmates, there was always someone better than her. And they never forgot to remind her that she wasn’t. She was just ordinary. Never special. Always average.

As her thoughts began to spiral, the light in the room started to dim, until it was nearly pitch black. When Chaewon opened her eyes, the room brightened once more. 

_ If you want to come with me, you can _ .

Chaewon sat up in her bed, watching as her shadow did the same against the opposite wall. Outside, however, the sun was blocked by clouds, so her shadow shouldn't be visible. Yet there it was.

She watched her shadow with a curious stare as it hopped off the bed and walked over to the door. With an outstretched hand, her shadow grasped the door knob, and then slipped through the crack between the door and the wall. 

Chaewon gasped and leapt off the bed after her shadow. She couldn’t let anyone see it. If her secret got out… well, everyone knew what happened to people who weren’t ordinary. She flung her door open and ran into the hallway, looking around frantically. At the end of the hall, her shadow waved to her before dancing around the corner. Gritting her teeth, Chaewon chased after it.

She ran down countless hallways, and thankfully didn’t encounter any other people as she did. But each time she turned a corner, she was one step too late, and her shadow would disappear around another one.

At long last, Chaewon found her shadow standing still next to a doorway. She stopped next to it, breathing hard. When she caught her breath, and her legs stopped shaking, she came to her senses and realized where she was. The door was one that students used frequently to sneak off grounds, because it was located behind a staircase and the faculty members never seemed to remember that it existed. Though Chaewon had never snuck out herself, she had heard others talk about it, and watched people do it all the time. 

She turned to look at her shadow, which didn’t move against the wall. As she studied it closer, she noticed it was turned to face the door, as if waiting, expectantly.

_ You can come with me, if you want _ .

And then Chaewon thought, screw it. She would be the one to decide if she was special or ordinary. She was done letting other people decide her fate, and she was done listening to the voices in her head tell her she was worthless.

Chaewon grasped the door knob and ran out into the cold wind.

* * *

Olivia walked through the barren and sterile halls she had stared at for the past twelve years. As much as she’d tried to prevent it, they had become her reality. She walked down a particularly long one with a set of important doors at the end, a prickle of dread growing in her stomach. She paused in front of the doors for a moment, steeling herself before stepping inside.

In the center of the room, a woman with a blonde ponytail sat at a desk, writing something down on a piece of paper. She didn’t look up as Olivia walked to stand in front of her. Two guards stood on either side of the room.

“You’re late, Hyejoo.” The woman said, not bothering to look up at her. “When I tell you you come home, you should do as I ask.”

Olivia didn’t say anything, even though the tip of her tongue burned with several remarks, most of which were better left unsaid. What the woman really wanted, after all, was an apology. But Olivia felt no remorse for her actions, so she didn’t give her one.

“Why did you send me to boarding school if you want me to come back here all the time?” Olivia asked, every inch of her willpower keeping her voice neutral.

“It’s one of the best schools in the country.” The woman said. “I want you to have a good education. But I also need to keep an eye on you.” She finally set her pen down and looked up at Olivia, her hands clasped in front of her. “Have you had any episodes recently?”

While it was annoying when the woman ignored her presence, Olivia knew that standing under her full attention was much worse. She shifted under her gaze.

“No.” She said, looking away from her. It was true; she hadn’t gone out of control in a long time. Of course, she would never tell the woman about her interaction with the two girls in the forest earlier, but at the time, she had been using her powers intentionally.

“Good.” The woman said. “Now, would you care to explain why you were late today?”

If she found out where Olivia had gone, she would never be allowed to set foot outside of the building again.

“I had to… finish an assignment.” Olivia lied, her voice steady, even with the hesitation. 

The woman didn’t say anything for a moment. Then she stood up and walked around to the front of the desk and leaned against it. Olivia felt the urge to take a step back, but held her ground.

“You know you can tell me anything, right?” The woman said, her voice cold and emotionless. “I’m your mother.”

_ No, you’re not. My mother is dead. _

That’s what she wanted to say, but Olivia bit the inside of her mouth instead.

“I created you, Hyejoo. Don’t you forget that.” The woman lowered her voice. “You owe your life to me.”

Olivia hated the icy feeling that crept up from her stomach and into her throat. Without thinking, she blurted out, “My name isn’t Hyejoo.”

The woman narrowed her eyes, and Olivia didn't meet them.

“Yes it is.” The woman said, dismissing the comment. Then she glanced at the guards positioned on the walls. “Escort Hyejoo to her room.”

With her cue to leave, Olivia turned around and followed the guards to her ‘room,’ which wasn’t a bedroom by any standards. She knew that other people lived in houses or apartments, not giant buildings with labs and scientists. She knew that people her age had nice blankets and pillows on their beds, and posters hanging on their walls.

She entered her room, which had white walls and a white ceiling, with a single light in the center. A small bed was pushed to the side—also white. It wasn’t a room. It was a cell. 

She didn’t live in a house. She didn’t have a room. She didn’t have a mother. And she didn’t have any freedom. 

There was nothing she wanted more.

* * *

Chaewon shivered as she ran against the cold wind, thinking that she really ought to have thought her plan through. She had dashed out of the building without grabbing a coat, and while she had snuck off the grounds without any trouble, she had no idea where she was going. 

She briefly wondered if maybe her shadow would be able to lead her to the park, but something inside her knew that it wouldn’t. So she trudged on. At least she knew where the town was, having grown up nearby. With any luck, she might be able to ask someone for directions. 

But after ten minutes of wandering the suburbs, Chaewon knew luck wasn’t on her side at all. The cold weather had brilliantly ushered people off the streets and into the warmth of their homes. There wasn’t a person in sight.

Chaewon groaned internally, wondering if she should just give up and turn back. What had she been thinking, after all? Sure, Jiwoo had been nice to her in the bathroom, but was she really ready to meet a bunch of other people? A bunch of other mutants?

She was about to turn around when across the street, she saw two teenage girls running down the sidewalk from the direction she had just come in. Chaewon watched them go, realizing with a start that one of them was Sooyoung—the girl who had gotten lost with her and asked for directions. Chaewon frowned, wondering what she was also doing so far away from the school. 

She looked back down the street, wondering where they had come from. As she kept walking for a few blocks, she glanced at the window of a convenience store, looking at the cute figurines on display that could be won from the little arcade games just inside.

_ We’ll be at the park across the street from the convenience store. _

Thanks, Jiwoo. There are probably several dozen convenience stores in this tiny town alone. 

As she thought it, Chaewon glanced to the side, and her expression morphed into a glare. How could it be that easy?

Taking a deep breath, she crossed the street and entered the park, immediately spotting Jiwoo and the other girls. As she drew closer and closer, her steps grew slower and slower, as if there was something holding her back from joining them. Her heart beat loudly in her chest, and she swayed a little, feeling dizzy.

“Oh my gosh!” Jiwoo said, hopping off the swings as she recognized Chaewon. “You came!”

Just like that, the spell was broken, and Chaewon could move again. She took a few more steps as Jiwoo bounded over to her. She looked like she wanted to hug the younger girl, but Chaewon was thankful that Jiwoo only took her hands in hers as she bounced up and down.

“I wasn’t sure you’d come.” Jiwoo said, practically beaming. “Here, let me introduce you to everyone.”

Chaewon merely nodded as she let herself be dragged forward by Jiwoo to meet all of her friends, who she claimed to be special.

_ Like her _ . 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda don't know how I feel about this chapter, because it's just five short scenes that happen in, like, the same span of time. But oh well. All the girls have finally been introduced! Finally  
> Where do we go from here? Why is everyone gathering? Only time will tell~


	10. Orenda

Jinsoul looked up at the darkening clouds in the sky. Next to her, Jungeun shivered in the cold wind. So…maybe it hadn’t been the best idea to gather everyone outside, but the park was a central location between Useon High and Eden Academy, and at least the weather would keep unwanted eavesdroppers away. 

To the side, two girls from the boarding school were sitting on the swings. Next to them, were the girls from the public school, and the android Yeojin had created. Yeojin was holding her hand as they conversed with the others. Haseul held her other hand, watching her friend talk animatedly next to her.

“Where are Yerim and Sooyoung?” Jungeun asked, looking around the park. “They should have been here by now.”

Jinsoul checked her watch, seeing that it was more than ten minutes past their meeting time. “I’m sure they’re going to get here soon.” She said, her voice calm, despite how she was just as anxious as Jungeun.

As the words left her mouth, she saw two figures walking towards them in the corner of her eye. She turned to look at them, and her mouth dropped.

“Where have you two been?” Jinsoul asked as they neared the group. Everyone turned to look at the two girls, who were covered in mud. 

“Ask Sooyoung.” Yerim said simply. “This is all her fault to begin with.” 

“Hey!” Sooyoung protested, trying to untangle her muddy hair. After a moment, she gave up and sighed. “Okay, fine, it was my fault. We were following a mutant and she ran into the forest. When we tried to talk to her…she may have thrown us backwards into the air.”

“ _ What? _ ” Jungeun all but shrieked. “Are you hurt? Why would you do something so reckless?”

Yerim and Sooyoung glanced at each other. “Sooyoung wanted to offer help in case she wanted it.” Yerim said, throwing her under the bus. “But for the record, I told her not to.”

“While I respect your reasoning, Yerim is right. You two shouldn’t have run off after someone potentially dangerous.” Jinsoul said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “You’ll have to shower later, because now that everyone is here, there are some things we need to discuss.”

The two girls nodded sullenly as everyone gathered together to hear what Jinsoul had to say. 

“Okay.” Jinsoul said, now that she had everyone’s attention. She took a deep breath, preparing herself for everything she was about to say. She didn’t know how the rest of the girls were going to take it. Some of it they knew, and some of it they didn’t, and she had to expect the worst. 

“I called you all here today because we are all in grave danger. Not just us, but mutants all around the world.”

The girls didn’t say anything; they just stared at her in silence. 

“There is a corporation on the edge of town known as BbCorp. They are known for the manufacturing of military weapons, and they get their funding from the South Korean government.” Jinsoul continued. “Their current project, the Polaris Project, is going to create an army of androids: robots with the ability to blend in with humans.” Her eyes flitted to Vivi unconsciously. 

“These androids will be able to find mutants and carriers of the X-gene, and…and…”

“Eliminate them.”

All eyes turned to Vivi, who was looking at Jinsoul. “That is my purpose.” She said, with a steely expression. “Or, was.”

“Y-yes.” Jinsoul said. “I’m not sure how, but they designed a way to track mutants, which changes the game. No more hiding. We’ll be exposed to the world, and the government will be able to hunt us down at will.

“So we need to act now. All of us together—we can put a stop to this project.” She said. “If I can get inside the headquarters and hack into their database, I can delete their backup data and everything they need to continue to run the project. We need to take the fight to them before our kind is wiped off the face of the earth.”

Jinsoul finished her proclamation and looked around at the other ten girls. They all wore expressions of varying concern, shock, and disbelief. 

“I’m sorry, but do you actually think we even have a chance of stopping them?” Hyunjin said, cutting through the silence. “I mean, we’re just eleven girls, and I don’t think half of us know hand-to-hand combat. Not to mention, this is a powerful corporation who is backed by the government. It doesn’t seem possible.”

“Are you saying we should just give up?” Jinsoul asked in disbelief.

“No.” Hyunjin crossed her arms. “Everything about this is troubling and awful, and I think they should be stopped. I just don’t think we’re the people to do it.”

“She has a point.” Haseul said next to her. “We’re just eleven people—eleven high schoolers. We want to help but…we’re not the right people for the job.”

Jinsoul gritted her teeth. They were running out of time, all of them. Any day now, BbCorp could release their android army into the population. They needed to act now.

“We’re the  _ only _ people for the job.” Jinsoul said. “The right people for the job all died when the Mutant Liberation Front headquarters was destroyed. I’m the only one left.”

Next to Hyunjin, Heejin’s face paled. Her hands began to shake, unnoticed by the rest of the girls.

Jungeun turned to Jinsoul. “Maybe we should just wait a little longer.” She said. “I mean, I know we don’t exactly have time on her hands, but maybe we could look for more help.”

“Yeah.” Hyunjin nodded. “We can’t just rush in there, not prepared, only to be captured. Or worse.”

“We don’t have any time!” Jinsoul snapped. Jungeun took half a step back, and Jinsoul felt her heart twinge with guilt. “Listen, this was the last mission I was assigned before the MLF was destroyed. That’s why I went to Hapcheon, and that’s why I’m here now. I’ve come too far, and I’m going to see this through. We can’t wait any longer, don’t you see?”

She looked around at the girls again. Hyunjin and Yeojin were looking at her a bit quizzically. Jinsoul turned to see Jungeun’s eyes filled with hurt and confusion. 

“Are you saying that you  _ specifically _ went to Hapcheon after the MLF was destroyed?” Jungeun asked. “Why? You said you were just passing through.”

Jinsoul froze, realizing her slip-up. Her eyes widened slightly as she tried in vain to find a way to fix her mistake. But it was too late. Jungeun was already fixing her with a steel gaze, and Yerim was looking at her with shock.

With a sigh, she decided to tell the truth, as ugly as it was.

“I…knew about your and Yerim’s existences before traveling to Hapcheon.” Jinsoul said quietly, looking at her feet. “We kept tabs on all the mutants we knew about.”

“So…so…what. Was all the stuff you told us, lies?” Jungeun asked, voice barely above a whisper, her arms hugging her sides. The other girls looked on, feeling as though they shouldn’t be listening to what was transpiring, but at the same time, they were unable to look away.

“Was this whole relationship built on lies?” Jungeun asked, her voice slowly growing louder as she gestured to the both of them. “Were you just using us the whole time? Were we just a mission to you?! Me and Yerim?”

Jinsoul opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. As she looked at the pain in Jungeun’s expression, her throat tightened, and she closed her mouth in shame. Looking back on her actions, she saw she had been wrong to lie to them the whole time. Jungeun was right: she only cared about the mission.

She looked over at Yerim, whose eyes were fixated on the ground, her arms limp at her sides. When she finally raised her head and met Jinsoul’s gaze, her eyes were brimming with tears.

“Did you use me to find everyone here?” She asked. 

Jinsoul felt like her heart was slowly being squeezed inside her chest. “Yes.” She said. Then she turned to frantically look at Jungeun. “I’m sorry, I really am. I promise it wasn’t all lies—”

Jungeun held up her hand, cutting Jinsoul off. “I don’t want to hear it.” She said. And with that, she turned on her heel and walked away. Yerim followed her without even a glance back. Jinsoul could do nothing but watch them go, taking her heart with her.

She turned back to face the other girls. Some of them were avoiding her gaze, while others looked at her with expressions of disbelief or anger. She swallowed thickly, trying to stay composed.

“I’m sorry.” She said. “It was wrong of me to involve you like this, and to ask all of this from you. You don’t have to worry about the corporation; I’ll take care of them myself.”

Before anyone could respond, she teleported away, leaving the rest of the girls to look amongst themselves, wondering what to do next.

Jinsoul leaned against a tree for support, looking up at the sky as tears leaked from the corners of her eyes. She clamped her hand over her mouth as a sob rose up in her throat. 

She had betrayed the trust of her friends, and now there was no way she was ever going to get it back. Everything she had done up until this point was utterly selfish of her. Finding Yerim and training her to use her powers to find other mutants to help fight against BbCorp, with little regard to whether they would survive or not. All that mattered to her was the outcome, not the lives lost along the way.

She realized with a start that she didn’t even deserve their friendship to begin with. Perhaps it was better this way: she would be the only one risking her life, and her friends would be safe. It was the only way. 

* * *

_ Heejin walked down the stairs. Outside, the sky was dark. It was close to midnight. In the kitchen, her parents sat at the table by the dim light, conversing in low voices. _

_ “Mom?” She asked, walking over to her. Her mother didn’t look up. _

_ “Dad?” She asked, turning to her father instead. He looked over at her with a broken expression. She took a step back. She had never seen him like that before. “What’s going on?” _

_ “It’s your sister, sweetie.” Her dad said, right before her mother slammed her fist against the table, making Heejin jump. _

_ “She brought it upon herself, getting mixed up with that radical group.” Her mother said, in a cold voice, and Heejin felt ice fill her veins. _

_ “What happened?” She asked, dreading the answer, because she already knew. Her father’s expression had already told her.  _

_ “What happens to everyone else.” Her mother said. “It was her punishment.” _

_ Heejin spun on her heel and ran away from them. Neither of her parents tried to stop her as she ran up the stairs and slammed the door, tears coursing down her cheeks. She threw herself onto her bed, sobbing into her pillow. A week later, it was decided that she should live with her grandmother for a while, in a different town.  _

_ Her parents never cared. Never. _

“Heejin?”

Hyunjin was looking at her with a worried expression, snapping Heejin back to reality. She took a deep breath.

“You alright?” Her friend asked. “You looked a little pale. And distant.”

The two of them were walking back to Heejin’s house. After the revelation of Jinsoul’s plan, the remaining eight girls had decided to return to their homes for the time being. The girls from the boarding school walked back together, and Haseul and Yeojin returned to Haseul’s place. They didn’t know where Jungeun or Yerim had gone, or if they would ever hear from them again. 

As they stepped inside Heejin’s house, she said, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Heejin sank down into the armchair near the door and her friend shot her a look. She didn’t have to say anything for Heejin to know that she was telling her to cut the bullshit.

“Fine.” Heejin sighed. “When Jinsoul was talking about the MLF, it just…brought back memories of my sister.” She said. 

Hyunjin sat down on the couch next to the chair and placed her hand on Heejin’s thigh. “I’m so sorry.” She said. “I know you two were close.”

“Yeah.” Heejin said, her voice thick. “She was amazing. She always believed that there was good out there. That even though the world was pitted against us, there was still good in humankind.” 

Hyunjin nodded. It was a difficult thing to do: to hold compassion for the people that filled their lives with fear. Even though she knew that not all humans were anti-mutant, it was easy to place blame on the group as a whole. 

“I miss her so much.” Heejin said, tears spilling down her cheeks now. Hyunjin stood up and hugged her friend as she cried into her shoulder softly. 

Hyunjin rubbed her back. She hated seeing her friend in so much pain. Her throat tightened with emotion as she said, “You still have people that love you. Our friends love you, and I love you.”

Heejin nodded. “I know.”

“She would be proud of you today.” Hyunjin said, continuing to rub Heejin’s back as her breathing started to become more even. “And you keep her alive by carrying on her memory, by spreading her message of hope.”

Heejin looked up at Hyunjin, who lifted her finger to wipe away her friend’s tears. 

“You know, even though it’s messed up how Jinsoul used Yerim to find all of us, I’m still glad we all became friends.” Heejin said, sniffling. 

“Me too.” Hyunjin said quietly. They sat in silence for a few moments, thinking back to everything that had happened earlier that afternoon.

“I don’t think Jinsoul is a bad person.” Heejin said. “She’s just misguided in her ways. She let the bigger picture block her view, but I think she really cares about people deep down. The whole time, she was just trying really hard to fight to protect us, and to avenge the people she couldn’t save.”

Hyunjin looked at Heejin’s face, full of earnest. In a way, even though she had never met her, Hyunjin thought Heejin’s sister lived on through her. They both had a way of looking for the light in people. When Hyunjin didn’t trust Yerim before she had met her, Heejin still had hope. Even after Jinsoul had told them all the truth about using them all to fight against BbCorp, Heejin managed to find a way to point to her compassion. 

“You’re right.” Hyunjin said. “Even though I still think we wouldn’t have stood a chance going up against them.”

Heejin laid her head against her friend’s shoulder and closed her eyes. “Yeah, but let’s not talk about it anymore. I’m tired.” She said softly.

Hyunjin smirked. “Time for bed already?” She asked. “You’re so old.”

“Shut up.” Heejin punched her shoulder lightly. Then she opened her eyes and let out a squeak as Hyunjin hooked her arm under her knees and lifted her up. “What are you doing?” She asked, giggling.

“Putting you to bed, grandma.” Hyunjin said, and started carrying her to her room. Heejin was fairly light, and Hyunjin was still in shape from her days of playing soccer, so they crossed the threshold easily. Hyunjin laid her friend down on her bed and was about to leave when Heejin told her to wait.

Hyunjin turned around to see Heejin pouting, and rolled her eyes. Then Heejin patted the mattress, her imploring eyes silently pleading for Hyunjin to cuddle with her.

“You get away with everything, you know that, Jeon Heejin?” Hyunjin asked as she laid down next to her and snuggled up to her side.

“Yeah, it’s the best.” Heejin said, giggling into Hyunjin’s hair as the two drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

When Hyunjin woke up the next morning, she realized both her and Heejin had slept through the entire night. She turned her head slightly to look at her friend next to her, snoring softly into her side, her arms wrapped around Hyunjin’s torso. She looked so peaceful, so calm, with the early morning light shining down on her face and wavy hair. 

She wished they could stay that way forever. She wished they could just sleep in and eat croissants and watch videos of cats on the internet all day. Stupid stuff like that. Just like normal high schoolers. But it was only a matter of time before that would be shattered as reality came knocking on their door. In this case, quite literally.

A buzzing on the nightstand grabbed Hyunjin’s attention, and she shifted carefully so as not to disturb Heejin as she reached for her friend’s phone. She picked it up, reading the message that lit up the screen. It was from Yerim, and it read,  _ Have you heard from Jinsoul since yesterday? _

Hyunjin nudged Heejin, rousing her from her slumber after all. Heejin looked up at her with puffy eyes.

“Yerim texted you asking if you’ve heard from Jinsoul.” Hyunjin said softly. 

“What?” Heejin asked, rubbing her eyes. “No, I haven’t heard from her. Where do you think she went?”

Hyunjin handed Heejin her phone so she could text Yerim back. “I don’t know.” She said. “Do you think they’re worried? I know her and Jungeun seemed like they wanted to have nothing to do with her yesterday, but when we first met them, they were really good friends.”

“Yeah.” Heejin said, frowning as she checked her other messages. “I hope Jinsoul didn’t run off and do anything reckless.”

The two girls jumped as they suddenly heard a loud knocking at the front door. They looked between each other before getting up and walking over to answer it. When they opened the door, both of their mouths dropped open. 

“Yerim?” They asked in unison.

“How do you even know where I live?” Heejin asked. “You know what, it doesn’t matter. What’s up?”

The younger girl stood on the front steps, wringing her hands, obviously in distress. “I’m worried about Jinsoul.” She said. “She didn’t come back last night.”

“She probably stayed somewhere else.” Hyunjin said. “It sounded like she felt really guilty after the whole thing yesterday. Maybe she didn’t want to hurt you two any more than she already did.”

Yerim pursed her lips. “Yeah, I know it’s probably for the best.” She sighed. “But even still, I can’t help but worry about her. Even after she lied to us and… used me to find all of you. She was still my friend. I think.”

Heejin moved over to Yerim and placed her hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay to feel sad or worried about her.” She said. “Jinsoul was your friend, and that meant something to you. It’s okay even if you’re not friends with her anymore.”

“Okay.” Yerim nodded, looking into Heejin’s eyes. “Thanks. And sorry to bother you two. I should probably go back and just try to move on.”

As she turned to leave, Hyunjin suddenly remembered something. “Wait.” She said, and Yerim paused, looking back at her. “There was something Jinsoul said right before she left yesterday. I wasn’t sure what she meant at first, but she said that she would ‘take care of the corporation herself.’ What do you think that means?”

Yerim’s eyes widened as she placed a hand over her mouth. “Oh no.” She said. “Oh no no no.”

“What?” Heejin asked, looking between Yerim and Hyunjin. “What is it?”

“She’s going to try and stop them herself.” Yerim said, running her fingers through her hair. 

“ _ What?! _ ” Heejin and Hyunjin said in unison. Again. 

“We have to stop her.” Yerim said, on the verge of panic. “She’s going to get in trouble if she goes in there all on her own.”

Heejin grabbed Yerim’s shoulders and started her arms reassuringly. “It’s going to be okay.” She said. “We’re going to stop her.”

Yerim shook her head frantically. “That’s the problem.” She said. “We won’t be able to. She’s going to go in there whether we help her or not. I know her.”

“Well then I guess we’ll just have to help her.” Hyunjin said. Heejin and Yerim looked at her, surprised. “What?” She asked. “I still think it’s a bad decision, but I’m not going to let her go on a suicide mission for the rest of us.”

Heejin nodded. “I’ll text the others.” She said. “Let’s go find her.”

* * *

Jinsoul crept through the dense woods until she found the chain-link fence that surrounded the perimeter of the BbCorp headquarters. A sign hung on the fence that read:  _ Private Property. Trespassing Prohibited _ . She couldn’t see the building through the trees, but she knew it lay only several meters away from where she sat crouched low to the ground. 

This was it. She was going to teleport into the control room and destroy every single inch of data, and every file compiled in the company’s database. Hopefully it would be enough to dismantle the project, and keep the government from moving forward with their plans to wipe out the mutant population. If it wasn’t, Jinsoul feared she might have to take out the head of the organization. Whatever she would have to end up doing, she knew she probably wouldn’t come out of it.

Her heart ached as she thought back to everything she had said yesterday, and the pain she had seen in her friends’ eyes. Jinsoul clenched her fist. Her actions were unforgivable, but maybe she could make it up to them by keeping them safe. 

Rather than returning to their house, Jinsoul had stayed up all night in the public library, scouring through blueprints and layouts of the building until she found a room she believed to be the central hub of the headquarters. Now all she had to do was teleport in there and complete the job she set out to do four months ago. 

The sound of rustling bushes to her left made Jinsoul spin around suddenly. “Who’s there?” She called out in a low voice. The rustling stopped, and a person emerged from behind a bush. Jinsoul furrowed her brow in confusion, standing up to see that it was none other than her friend. Well, ex-friend.

“Yerim?”

The younger girl met her eyes before looking away quickly, the pain of yesterday’s conversation still fresh in her mind. Jinsoul noticed her brown hair was tangled, and there were dark circles under her eyes.

“What are you doing here?” Jinsoul asked, utterly perplexed. 

“Stopping you.” Jungeun said, emerging from behind Yerim and placing a hand on her shoulder. “From going in there alone.”

“Wh—I don’t understand.” Jinsoul said.

Jungeun crossed her arms. “I let you go into that place alone once; I’m not going to let you do it again.” Then she nodded behind her, and Jinsoul looked past her to see the other eight girls with them. “We’re not letting you go in there alone.”

Jinsoul shook her head. “But, before. I practically manipulated you two. So why are you helping me?” She asked. She had figured they never wanted to see her again.

Yerim sighed. “Your ulterior motives suck, and the fact that you kept it from us sucks even more.” Jinsoul looked down at her feet, the words striking her in the heart.

“But…” Jinsoul looked up, a small flutter of hope in her chest as her friend continued. “I wouldn’t be the person I am today without your help.” Yerim said softly. “I was lost, and you helped save me. And you helped save all these girls too.”

Jinsoul looked at the rest of the girls, smiling as they stood back to give the three some space. She looked at Yeojin, who she had saved. Heejin, Hyunjin, and Haseul, who had lost their friend and found her again. Sooyoung, Jiwoo, and Chaewon, who were all alone but had found others like them.

“And we know you’re not going to stop until this place comes crumbling to the ground.” Yerim said with a huff. “So we’re here to make sure you don’t come down with it.”

Jinsoul stared at them, speechless. Then, her eyes began to brim with tears. Before she could stop herself, tears poured silently down her cheeks as she stood in front of her friends.

Tentatively, Jungeun and Yerim walked forward and wrapped Jinsoul in a tight hug.

“I’m so sorry I hurt you.” Jinsoul whimpered. “It was so selfish of me to lie to you…I’m such an awful person.”

“No, you’re not.” Jungeun muttered into her shoulder. “Just don’t keep stuff from us ever again, okay?”

Jinsoul nodded fervently, clutching her friends in her arms. She didn’t want to hurt her friends ever again. 

However, the tender moment was broken once Jinsoul voiced the question that had plagued her from the very beginning. “Would you still have come if I had told you the truth back then?”

Yerim and Jungeun looked between each other.

“I guess we’ll never know.” Jungeun said simply, shrugging her shoulders. “But it doesn’t matter now, because that’s in the past. All we can do is move forward.”

Jinsoul nodded, taking in her answer. She knew that was as good as she was going to get. She was mostly just thankful that her friends had mostly forgiven her. She could live with that.

“So what’s the plan?” Jungeun asked. The rest of the girls moved closer to listen to Jinsoul as she explained the details of what exactly they were going to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry...?  
> No, I really am, and I promise I love Jinsoul with all my heart. I just wanted to add more conflict to the story, and make the journey harder for the characters (these scenes were not in the original draft!)  
> But I'm not apologizing for that 2jin scene because I live for fluff


	11. Zemblanity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I forgot to mention this last week but I started uploading aesthetics for each of the characters! you can check them out on my insta - @ace.aesthetics  
> if you've noticed, I'm not really straightforward about labelling each of the girls' powers in this story, but I will on my insta

Hyunjin squatted on the ground next to Heejin as the ten girls listened to Jinsoul’s plan. She could feel her heart thudding in her chest as she listened intently. A part of her still didn’t believe that they were actually doing this. A part of her still thought she was dreaming.

She looked at the determined faces around her, and her heart swelled a little bit. Even Yeojin, who must have been terrified being back, was wearing a serious expression. Hyunjin couldn’t explain the feeling, but sitting there with the other girls—her friends, under the canopy of trees, made her feel like she was finally a part of something larger than herself. Something huge, that would impact the entire world, and for the better. If they all succeeded, they would be helping people like them everywhere. 

“Alright.” Jinsoul said, finishing up her instruction. “We just get in and out. Are there any questions?”

The girls all shook their heads. Hyunjin felt Heejin slip her hand into hers discreetly. Hyunjin looked over at her and smiled softly, squeezing her hand. Heejin returned the smile, rubbing her thumb over Hyunjin’s knuckles.

“Okay, that means Hyunjin, you’re up.” Jinsoul said, glancing over at the girl in question, who nodded. “You know the signal. Once the guards at the front are taken care of, you find the control room and report back to us.”

Hyunjin stood up and exhaled shakily, letting Heejin’s hand drop out of hers. “Here goes nothing.” She said. Then, with all the eyes of the girls on her, she began to change size. Her arms curled into her sides, her legs shrank, and her mouth and nose began to grow away from her face. Black feathers sprouted from her skin, and she continued to shrink until the ten other girls were looking at a black crow standing on the ground.

She flapped her wings once and then took off into the sky, soaring up above the treetops. Below her, she knew Sooyoung and Jinsoul were helping the girls over the fence so they could move closer to the building, while still remaining hidden within the foliage of the forest.

Hyunjin landed on a tree close to the south entrance of the building. In front of her, the menacing gray structure stood tall in the clearing. To the west, she could make out a large tarmac, and in the distance, a road. The rest of the building was surrounded by trees.

She focused on the door. There were two guards positioned on either side of it, and so Hyunjin let out two short  _ caws _ to let the girls know. As she watched, a blur moved across the lawn that grew in between the trees and the building. Jungeun knocked the guards out swiftly, and laid them down under a few bushes. Chaewon and Vivi would be undressing them from their armor and putting it on themselves as disguises. 

It was time for phase two.

Hyunjin flew over to the roof of the building before shrinking herself down even further, until she was the size of a fruit fly. Traveling at such a small size would be slow, but she would draw less attention that way. 

She flew close to the ground and slipped through the crack underneath the door without any problems. As she crawled up the wall of the hallway in front of her, she found it to be empty. Hyunjin flew down several meters, turning a few corners and counting the security cameras until she found the central control room that Jinsoul had been talking about. It wasn’t hard to miss—there were several rows of computers filling the room, and monitors on the walls. Only a few people occupied the seats at the desks: definitely not too many to handle.

By the time Hyunjin flew back through the hallways and outside, Vivi and Chaewon were already stationed next to the entrance in their disguises. Hopefully the security feed would appear to have a glitch to anyone watching, and no one would think twice about why the guards had gone missing for a few seconds. 

Hyunjin flew down to the ground and transformed into a squirrel so she could get back to her friends quickly. She scampered across the lawn and into the forest until she found them. When she transformed back, Jiwoo squeaked in surprise, announcing her arrival to the rest of the group. They all gathered around to hear what she had brought back to report.

“Okay.” Hyunjin said, lowering herself next to them. “So there are four security cameras between the entrance and the control room, not including the ones outside. The halls were empty, and there were only about three people in the room, but that could change.”

“Alright, we should be able to make it inside without too many problems.” Jinsoul said. “Heejin will open any doors for us.” Jungeun handed her the swipe card she stole from one of the guards. “She’ll be able to sneak in, invisible, and give Chaewon and Vivi the sign to follow us inside.”

“Hyunjin, you’ll just meet us inside.” Jinsoul continued. “You already know where the room is. Jungeun and I will get into the control room and deal with anyone inside. Hopefully the camera feed isn’t being observed elsewhere, but to be on the safe side, we’ll keep hidden until Chaewon gets there to dim the lights. That’ll make it look like a power surge while I loop the camera feed to display earlier footage on all monitors.

“The rest of you wait out here, out of sight, in case anything goes wrong, or we need backup.” Jinsoul said, looking to Haseul, Sooyoung, Jiwoo, Yeojin, and Yerim. They all nodded in assent. 

“Okay.” Jinsoul took a deep breath. “Let’s go.”

Hyunjin shrank herself down to a fly once more and landed on Heejin’s shoulder. Once she knew her friend was safely secure, Heejin waved her hands and created an illusion to blend herself in with her surroundings.

They crossed the grass, and when they reached the south entrance, Heejin took out the swipe card and unlocked the door. Vivi and Chaewon turned, noticing the door was unlocked. They waited a few moments for Heejin and Hyunjin to enter the building before following them inside. 

As the group of four walked down the hallway, they let the outer door swing shut on its own. Just before it did, however, a blur zoomed inside and ran down the hallway past them, the breeze ruffling their clothes. They were all careful to hug the walls of the hallway so Jungeun and Jinsoul wouldn’t accidentally bump into them. 

Each time they reached a corner, Hyunjin would buzz in Heejin’s ear to let her know which way to go: one for left, two for right. Then Heejin would lightly tap her foot to let Vivi and Chaewon know which way to turn. They all collectively held their breath, praying each hall they turned down would be empty.

After an agonizing amount of time, the group finally arrived in the control room. It appeared empty at first sight, but a closer look revealed Jinsoul and Jungeun hiding under the desks. The bodies of several employees sat in a corner—conscious, not dead.

Immediately, Chaewon lifted her hands to the ceiling and enveloped it in darkness. The girls could still see each other, lit up by the glow of the computers, but the cameras wouldn’t be able to.

Hyunjin flew off Heejin’s shoulder at the same time she took down her illusion. They stood guard at the door next to Chaewon as Vivi and Jinsoul moved towards the nearest computer to hack into it. Jungeun pulled the shoelaces out of the employees’ shoes and tied their arms and legs with it.

“Here,” Jinsoul said. “This one’s unlocked.”

The silence in the room was only broken by the clacking of the computer keys under Jinsoul’s fingers as she tried to rearrange the security cameras as fast as she could. A few minutes went by, and Chaewon’s arms began to shake. She didn’t have a lot of experience with her powers, so it wouldn’t be hard to over-exert herself. 

At last, Jinsoul raised a ‘thumbs up’ in the air. Chaewon let her arms drop to her sides with a sigh of relief. 

“Alright, now let’s see what we’re working with here.” Jinsoul muttered to herself as she began scouring all the files on the computer while Vivi hovered her shoulder. Chaewon and Heejin stood at either side of the door, while Jungeun and Hyunjin paced around the room. They were trying to keep their minds busy to distract themselves from the fact that they were all standing in the headquarters of an organization that would kill them all willingly.

A few minutes went by, and Hyunjin silently urged Jinsoul to work faster. She would never out loud, though, because she knew the older girl was already feeling the burden of putting her friends at a greater risk as each second ticked by.

Suddenly, Heejin stiffened. “Someone’s coming!” She hissed, crouching down to the ground.

Chaewon crouched and pressed herself to the wall, mirroring Heejin, while the rest of the girls quickly ducked behind the computers. 

The footsteps grew louder and everyone held their breath. Then, the door handle turned and the door was swung open as a man strode in. He looked around, taking in the empty chairs.

“What the—” He said, but was cut off as Chaewon did the first thing she could think of, which was to shove her palms full of light into his eyes. 

The man staggered back, clawing at his face. Before he could cry out, Jungeun ran over and socked him in the jaw, knocking him out. 

The girls all looked at each other in shock. 

“Do you think he came in here because he needed to, or because he was sent to investigate?” Heejin asked, worried. 

“He is wearing a security uniform…” Chaewon said quietly in her high-pitched voice.

“Let’s not wait to find out.” Jungeun decided, before dragging the man over to the pile of unconscious people. 

“Oh shit.”

Everyone turned to look at Jinsoul, who had just uttered the two words. Her and Vivi were frozen, staring at the computer screen in front of them. 

“You need to see this.” She said cryptically. Everyone crowded around the monitor to see what she was talking about. 

What they expected to see on the screen, was nothing compared to what they actually saw. Heejin’s face grew pale, and Chaewon looked like she was going to be sick. Hyunjin felt her own stomach twist in disgust as she saw what was in the digitals files. 

They were experiments. Dozens of experiments. On mutants. This place was so much worse than the girls originally thought.

“I can’t believe this.” Jinsoul said, her hand over her mouth as she sifted through pictures of kids,  _ kids _ , who had been horrifyingly subjected to mutilations and drug tests. Hyunjin tore her eyes away, feeling herself start to shake at the sight. 

“All of them say deceased.” Jungeun whispered, steeling herself on the desk in front of her.

“Except for this one…” Jinsoul said, opening the file of Subject 012. Hyunjin’s eyes flicked back to the computer screen as the girls read the mutant’s file. 

The top started out relatively fine: there were descriptions of her height, weight, eye color, etc. However, as they kept reading, the girls became more disgusted with each word. The experiments run on the girl were described in detail, such as the types of drugs injected, or ‘electric therapy.’ Yet the most disturbing part, was that the experiments started when the girl was only four years old.

“What the fuck kind of sick and twisted place is this?” Jungeun asked, voicing the thoughts in all their heads.

“She’s still alive.” Heejin muttered to herself. Then she suddenly stood upright and started walking to the door.

“Heejin?” Hyunjin hissed. “Where are you going?!”

“To save that girl.” Heejin said, bending her illusion around herself and running out the door before anyone had the chance to object.

* * *

Olivia sat in her room with her hands folded in her lap. She stared at the wall, but her eyes focused nowhere in particular. Her mind drifted, traveling far away from her body, far away from the place she referred to as home.

When she was in her mind, she could travel to the far reaches of the galaxy. She could travel to every corner of the universe if she wanted to. Sometimes, she would watch the birth of stars in brilliant bursts of light, and other times she would shiver as she watched them explode and die. 

Out in space, she felt free. Truly free. And happy too. There were no rules, no scientists, no women claiming to be mothers. 

Olivia focused back in on the white walls of her room as she took a deep breath. Those walls…they always felt so small around her. Inside her chest, Olivia could feel her heart rate beginning to pick up, as it usually did whenever she returned to reality. 

She stood up, deciding that what she needed was fresh air. Outside her room, she knew the two guards were still standing on either side of her door, but she wouldn’t have a problem getting past them.

Olivia closed her eyes and relaxed her muscles as she allowed her body to dissipate into thin air. She slipped under the door and floated down the corridor until she could reform without being seen.

Her molecules stitched themselves back together, and she rubbed her arms subconsciously, never quite used to the feeling of de-materializing her own body. But at least it helped her sneak around without being seen. She smiled to herself as she turned around and walked away. 

_ Freak _ .

She was used to the stares she got when she walked past students at the boarding school. It was quite different from the way she was treated in the labs, yet also the same. As an outsider. But after twelve years, she was used to being alone, to not fitting in anywhere. She knew that she would always be the reason for it. There was nothing she could do to change herself, and so for the rest of her life, she would continue to live alone.

_ Orphan _ .

Olivia bit down on her lip as she began to ascend the stairs at the far end of the building. Everything was her fault. It was always her fault. Her loneliness was her punishment. Or so she told herself. 

Once she had climbed to the top of the stairs, she pushed the door to the roof open and climbed outside. The sun was high in the sky, and as she stood underneath it, she could feel herself warming slightly. Even so, her chest remained cold.

Olivia took a deep breath, looking out at the green treetops that surrounded the building, and then at the blue dome that rose above them. There was so much space outside, where she could finally feel free. 

She closed her eyes and paid attention to nothing but the wind brushing by her skin and through her hair. Up above the world, it was truly peaceful. If only she were up higher, in the stars.

_ Watch out! _

Olivia snapped her eyes open quickly, the ringing of screams in her ears. The crunch of metal against the trees. It was all her fault. All her fault. 

Behind her, she heard the sound of the rooftop door open, and she stiffened. Without looking back, she could tell it was a person she had never met before.

Olivia turned to face a girl with wavy brown hair and a mole next to her eye. She may have never met her before, but she certainly recognized her. It was the illusionist.

* * *

Haseul stood next to the other girls outside BbCorp, hidden in the forest. Yerim lay against a tree trunk, her eyes closed, seemingly asleep, but the girls knew better. Yeojin sat next to her, watching the older girl as she traveled across the rolling purple hills in her dreams. Off to the side, Jiwoo and Sooyoung were chatting together in hushed voices. 

Haseul paced under the trees, growing more and more anxious each second the girls spent inside the building.

Yeojin looked up at her best friend and sighed. “Haseul.”

Haseul stopped her pacing to look over at Yeojin, tearing her eyes away from the building.

“They’re going to be okay.” Yeojin said, trying to calm her down.

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Haseul said, resuming her pacing. “But what if they aren’t? Should they have been back by now? We don’t know for sure that they’ll come out of there al…alright.”

Yeojin frowned, able to guess what her friend had avoided voicing, even though they were all thinking it themselves. “Yeah, but the only thing you can do to help them is stay out of sight and avoid getting caught.” She said. 

Haseul bit her lip in frustration. “I just feel so useless out here.” She muttered. “It’s like…when you went missing.” She said in a quiet voice.

“Well your powers work better outside anyways.” Yeojin pointed out, brushing past the latter half of her friend’s sentence.

Haseul glanced over at Yeojin again, only to find her friend watching Yerim intently. Though she knew she was right, Haseul couldn’t help but feel useless where she stood. Her skin itched, and she gripped her hands at her sides, clenching them into fists.

“I need to go for a walk.” She said abruptly, and the other three girls looked up at her. Without saying anything else, Haseul turned away and began to walk into the forest. Jiwoo, Sooyoung, and Yeojin looked between themselves.

Haseul only made it several paces before she heard the crunch of leaves as someone ran up to her. She turned around, expecting Yeojin, but was surprised to find Jiwoo instead.

“Can I come with you?” The younger girl asked, her brown hair swishing behind her.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Haseul said. The two of them didn’t know each other well, though she supposed they might be able to now. “How come?” She asked in hopes of breaking the ice.

“Well, I can’t hang out with Sooyoung too much or I feel like I’m going to spontaneously combust.” Jiwoo explained, chuckling a little.

Haseul frowned. “You don’t like her?”

“No, no. Quite the opposite, actually.” Jiwoo said.

Haseul glanced at her, waiting for a more in-depth explanation, but she didn’t offer one, and Haseul didn’t pry. If Jiwoo wanted to tell her, she would.

“It’s hard feeling helpless, huh.” Jiwoo said after they walked in silence for a few more moments. “I would know, seeing as I’ve spent my entire life feeling inadequate.”

“Really?” Haseul asked as she turned to her, in genuine disbelief. To her, Jiwoo seemed like such a charismatic and charming person. Haseul just assumed she was naturally popular and smart.

“Yeah.” Jiwoo scoffed. “I suck at my studies and I never have the confidence to really try things I want. Except for photography, but I suck at that too, so…”

Jiwoo trailed off and the two girls lapsed into silence. Haseul contemplated her words.

“I mean, what I’m trying to say is that I understand how you feel.” Jiwoo said, a little flustered. “Not being useful and all that.”

Haseul stopped walking, and Jiwoo halted next to her.

“When Yeojin went missing, it was like the ground fell out underneath me.” Haseul said. Jiwoo didn’t say anything, she just listened. “I tried everything I could think of to find her, but nothing worked. I blamed myself for her disappearance because I was supposed to meet her at her apartment that morning, but I was running late.” She said bitterly. “She was rescued in the end, but I keep feeling like I can never do enough to protect my friends.”

Haseul felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Jiwoo giving her a comforting smile.

“Listen,” The younger girl said, suddenly wise for her age. “You can’t change the past, but you don’t have to let it define you. The only thing you can do now is be better. An opportunity will present itself to you, and you will be able to make it up to them.”

Haseul took a deep breath. “How do you know?” She asked quietly. 

“I don’t.” Jiwoo said, shrugging. “We never know what’s going to happen in the future. But if you don’t keep an eye out for that opportunity, it’ll pass you by.”

Haseul studied the younger girl in front of her as she nodded. She barely knew her, yet here she was, giving her advice. And it turned out they were a lot more similar than Haseul had first thought. Not only that, but underneath her bubbly and cheerful personality, Jiwoo was really mature and understanding. 

She was about to thank the younger girl when Jiwoo blurted out, “What’s that?”

They turned towards the building, where a blacktop stretched out to the west side. They had walked so far, absorbed in their thoughts, that they had reached the other side of the building. Both girls crouched low as they crept closer to the tree line to get a better look. 

Out on the tarmac, trucks were backed up to what appeared to be bay doors lining the entire west side of the building. Soldiers and scientists were walking quickly about, and heavy boxes were being transported from the doors and loaded into the backs of the trucks. Nearby, a man in a lab coat was giving a demonstration to a few generals.

“What do you think he’s saying?” Jiwoo asked, looking at the scientist, who appeared to be holding some sort of rectangular mechanical device in his hand. They watched as he pressed a button on the side of the device and waved it around in a circle.

“Dunno.” Haseul said. “But knowing these people, it probably isn’t good.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, the man frowned at the device in his hand. The generals started muttering as he pointed it at them, and then swept it in a circle, finally stopping as he aimed it towards the trees where Haseul and Jiwoo were hiding.

“Why is he pointing that thing at us?” Jiwoo hissed. The generals were standing now, looking over to where the two girls were hiding.

“Shit.” Haseul muttered. “These people programmed Vivi with mutant-tracking capabilities; you don’t think these devices can do the same thing, do you?”

Jiwoo stared at her with wide eyes before turning her attention back to the tarmac. “I don’t know, but what do you think is in all those boxes they’re loading up?”

Haseul looked at the closest truck to them, which had just been completely loaded up. The driver walked over to the door and opened it, preparing to leave. The pieces clicked in her mind, so quickly that she didn’t even want to believe them.

“Oh my god, they’re not building an android army any more.” Haseul said, and Jiwoo turned to her incredulously. “Think about it.” She continued. “The first one they made went rogue, so what’s the next cheaper and more reliable option? At least temporarily while they get all the materials they need to build their army without relying on mutant powers to bring them to life.”

Jiwoo put her head in her hands, realizing the gravity of the situation. “We’re screwed, Haseul. They’re probably shipping out enough devices to distribute across the entire country.”

Haseul felt dread pooling in her stomach as the first truck began to pull away from the bay doors. The rest of them were nearly loaded up too. Not to mention, the problem with the scientist who was going to figure out that there were two mutants hiding out in the forest, and even more inside. Unless they put a stop to the whole operation.

“We’re not screwed yet.” Haseul said, fear and determination mixing in her heart.

“What?” Jiwoo asked. “Yes we are, the first truck is about to leave.”

“Then we’ll just have to stop them.” Haseul said, her voice hard. “It looks like that opportunity you were talking about earlier is presenting itself.”

A solemn expression overtook Jiwoo’s features as she suddenly understood what Haseul was talking about. This was their chance to prove their usefulness and help their friend out by making sure the mutant-tracking devices weren’t distributed to the rest of the country.

Jiwoo nodded. “There’s no time to alert the others.” She said, resigning herself to what she was about to do.

“We just have to make sure those trucks don’t leave.” Haseul said, making it sound a whole lot simpler than it actually was. In reality, there were so many things that could potentially go wrong. 

But the two girls were ready to face those odds, if it meant securing their future. While their friends were inside, infiltrating the database to wipe the information and schematics of the tracking devices, the two of them would be outside, making sure they didn’t end up in the wrong hands. 

“Let’s do this.” Jiwoo said with a steely expression. 

Finally sure that the other girl was onboard, Haseul stood up, no doubt alerting the scientists and generals of her presence. She didn’t pay them any attention though, instead turning her attention to the sky as she tilted her head upwards, feeling the icy surge of power from her heart all the way to her fingertips. Her eyes turned white as the clouds in the sky darkened and wind began to tear across the open field. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *scrambles to fill in the plot holes and also give each girl a backstory*


	12. Súton

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to upload the final chapter a bit early. It's 12 am where I am, so technically saturday. Anyways, enjoy~  
> Or don't. But I hope you do

It had been several minutes since Heejin had left the central control room to try and find the sole surviving mutant. Hyunjin was pacing back and forth near the computers, her anxiety increasing each second her friend was gone. The rational part of her brain told her that Heejin could handle herself, but Hyunjin had tuned it out seven minutes ago, her spiral of worrisome thoughts taking over. 

Jinsoul paid the pacing girl no mind as she continued to download files onto a hard drive she had pulled out of her pocket and connected to the computer. Vivi remained at her side, staring at the monitor intently as she observed all of the horrible projects the corporation had either completed, or failed to complete. 

Chaewon was sitting on the ground next to the door, leaning against the wall. She looked down at her hands as she played with them, practicing turning the lights in them on and off. Jungeun leaned against the desk with her arms crossed, and her head down, staring off into space. The room was silent as the five girls waited.

Jinsoul closed the file she had just sifted through, and opened the next one, but froze in her tracks. Jungeun glanced up, noticing the sudden absence in her fingers tapping across the keyboard. She looked past Vivi’s shoulder, and sucked in her breath.

It was a file about her.  _ Her _ . “Kim Jungeun” was labelled at the top, and there were several photos taken of her: some from a great distance, and others frighteningly up close. Jungeun audibly gasped as she jerked upright. Jinsoul’s eyes flickered over to meet hers, and she saw that they were filled with the same fear that was crawling up her throat.

Hyunjin and Chaewon moved back over to the computer curiously, having noticed Jungeun’s change in demeanor. When they read her file, both of them stepped away, wearing similar expressions of shock.

But it didn’t stop there. Jinsoul continued to click through files of every single one of their friends. Hers next, then Yerim’s, then Yeojin’s. Everyone was in the database to an extent, though there was significantly less information on the girls from the boarding school.

“How the hell did they get all this information on us.” Jungeun practically growled. Along the way, her fear had turned into anger; she was seething, her knuckles white where she clenched her hands into fists.

Jinsoul opened another folder, but this one had a bunch of recordings with the dates and times labeled on them. She clicked on the first one and the girls watched the screen in horror.

As the video clip began to play, the girls watched themselves talking at the park they had met up at just the day before. However, the most unsettling part was the angle at which the video was taken at. Slowly, all of the girls turned to look at Vivi, whose eyes had gone wide with shock.

“No. No. It can’t be.” Vivi said, trembling slightly.

“Holy shit.” Hyunjin muttered. “They’ve been watching us through you.”

Vivi looked down at her hands, clearly shocked that she was still connected to BbCorp, even though she assumed she severed her ties with them when she escaped. Now, not only was she still connected to them, but they were using her to gain intel on all her friends. 

Jinsoul ran her hands through her hair. “Well, this complicates things.” She said. “And if they’re recording everything you say, they might even have you chipped too.” 

“Wait, they’re tracking her?” Hyunjin asked.

“I don’t know yet.” Jinsoul said, her eyebrows furrowing. “But maybe.”

“What are we supposed to do now?” Jungeun asked, panicked. “They know who we are. Do you think they know we’re here right now?”

Jinsoul pinched the bridge of her nose, her eyes closed in frustration. “I-I don’t know.” She admitted. “We’ll just have to deal with it later. Right now we need to focus on shutting down their system.”

The girls nodded, but fidgeted where they stood. None of them wanted to stand in the building any longer than they had to, especially now that they knew that the corporation knew about them. Jinsoul’s fingers moved as fast as they could to download the rest of the files. 

When she had finally finished, she yanked the hard drive out and pocketed it somewhat triumphantly. But their work wasn’t quite done yet.

Jinsoul turned to Vivi. “Do you think you could shut it down yourself?” She asked. 

Vivi looked into her eyes, her own flickering with uncertainty. “I can try.” She said affirmatively. In her past life, she had been able to manipulate technology, so surely there was some knowledge she possessed that could help her. She had read that when people lose their memories, procedural memories are easiest to recall. 

With her eyebrows furrowed in concentration, Vivi raised her hand to the monitor. Before her fingers could come in contact with the screen, however, she suddenly froze. The girls all looked at her with confusion as she started to twitch, as if all her muscles were spasming at once. Their eyes traveled from her face, down to her legs, where the tip of a shock stick was pulsing with blue energy against her ankle. 

Vivi’s eyes fluttered before opening wide, showing nothing but milky white. She fell forward, her hand pressing briefly against the monitor, which flashed blue and then black, before shutting down completely. 

Snapping out of her shock, Jungeun kicked the security guard holding the baton in the head, filling the room with a sickening crack. Jinsoul caught Vivi before she could fall to the ground, surprised at how light she felt in her arms. As she looked down at the android’s face, she was met with nothing but an empty stare. She was completely still.

Then Jinsoul’s eyes traveled to the computer, which was smoking slightly, completely fried. It almost appeared as though the current had traveled through Vivi’s body and into the computer. Jinsoul looked around, and saw that the rest of the computers had also received the same treatment.

Hyunjin and Chaewon rushed over, looking down at Vivi, who was motionless. Hyunjin clapped her hand over her mouth, tears brimming in the corners of her eyes. Chaewon’s lip trembled as she looked down at the girl who had just been blinking and breathing a few seconds ago. 

“Is she…” Chaewon whispered. “Is she…” But she didn’t want to finish the sentence. None of them wanted to. They couldn’t even bear to entertain the idea that one of their friends might be gone.

Before anyone could respond, the building suddenly shook around them, plaster and dust falling from the ceiling.

“What was that?” Jungeun asked, looking around as the building shuddered again, almost as though it was dying. 

“We can’t stick around to find out.” Jinsoul said, her voice distant. With one arm holding Vivi’s body to her side, she grabbed Chaewon’s hand and teleported back outside.

Yeojin and Sooyoung jumped up when they saw the three girls arrive. Next to them, Yerim remained asleep on the ground. Jinsoul set Vivi down and teleported back inside just as soon as she had arrived.

“What happened in there?!” Sooyoung asked as they took in Vivi’s white eyes and still form. They had been watching the building as cracks and splinters had started to appear in the walls.

“There was a security guard.” Chaewon explained shakily, on the verge of tears. “He had this stick that shocked her with electricity.”

Yeojin hastily knelt on the ground next to Vivi, the android she had given life to. She placed her hands above the girl’s chest, feeling around for any sign of life left in her body. As she closed her eyes, she barely registered the arrival of Hyunjin and Jungeun as Jinsoul teleported them to safety. 

As she pressed her hands against Vivi’s chest, she prayed to feel something, anything. A flicker of hope against the dark void that obscured her vision and crept into her heart.

“Come on.” She muttered under her breath. “Come on!”

A flood of relief washed over her as she felt the pink light that pulsed faintly inside of her friend. Tears pricked at her eyes, but Yeojin forced herself to concentrate. She needed a clear head if she wanted this to work.

Her eyes flew open. “Everyone get back!” She yelled. Thankfully, she didn’t have to ask twice. Her friends scrambled away from the two of them, understanding the gravity of the situation.

Then Yeojin shakily extended her arm and placed her palm against the cool bark of the tree next to them. Ever since she had been held inside the corporation and been subjected to various experiments, she had learned something about her own abilities. 

In order to understand her powers, she had to learn that energy could not be created or destroyed. When giving life to small creatures or plants, energy was sapped from her own lifeforce. However, when she had brought Vivi back to life the first time, she didn’t have enough of her own energy to fully awaken her, and she had to take the lifeforce from something else.

Now, as she knelt on the ground with one hand above Vivi’s chest, and the other against the tree, she could feel the life flowing out of the trunk, through her body, and into Vivi. Sweat began to beat on her brow as she closed her eyes and continued to transfer the energy between the two beings. 

The rest of the girls stood back, watching in awe as the color of the tree turned ashy and gray before their eyes. And Yeojin, while she was the youngest and smallest member of their group, seemed to hold much more power than any of them had first come to believe.

At last, she finally finished transferring all the life to Vivi. Yeojin sat back on her heels and stared at the android’s face, barely flinching when the withered tree crumpled and fell to the ground with a hollow thud. She held her breath as each second ticked by, until… 

The irises of Vivi’s eyes slowly grew from tiny dots into their normal sizes, like the screen of a computer booting up. She blinked once. Then twice. Then she looked around, her eyes finally landing on Yeojin, who was pale and sweaty and watching her with concern. 

As their eyes met, Yeojin let out a sob and threw herself onto her friend, hugging her tightly. Slowly, Vivi lifted her arms and wrapped them around the younger girl’s back, rubbing her shaky form. 

The rest of the girls, who had been holding their breath, collectively let out a sigh of relief now that their friend was back with them. 

“Did you complete the mission?” Sooyoung asked quietly, once they knew that the danger had passed. 

Jinsoul nodded. “We did it, all thanks to Vivi.” She said, watching her sit up next to Yeojin. She glanced at Sooyoung to see her looking around the clearing.

“Wait, where’s Heejin?” She asked. 

“She ran off to find one of the mutants they were experimenting on in there.” Hyunjin said next to her, wringing her hands as she glanced towards the building that was starting to crumble at the edges.

Jinsoul looked around too. “Where’s Haseul and Jiwoo?” She asked as the wind started to pick up around them.

“They went for a walk.” Sooyoung said, suddenly frowning. “They probably should have returned by now.”

The girls looked between themselves before looking up at the darkening clouds in the sky.

* * *

The two girls stared at each other from across the rooftop, wind blowing through their hair. Even from where she stood, Heejin could feel the power rolling off of the other girl in waves. Standing at the center of the rooftop, Olivia watched the illusionist with a blank face, save for a flicker of apprehension in her eyes.

“Um, hi.” Heejin said, raising her hand to wave slightly, before quickly lowering it again. The girl didn’t respond.

“My name is Heejin, what’s yours?” She tried. There hadn’t been a name on the file, and even though the girl had been taken when she was four, surely she had to have a name for herself.

The girl didn’t move. Her expression remained just as blank as before, and her eyes were dark and empty. Just when Heejin felt sure she wasn’t going to respond, the other girl opened her mouth.

“Olivia.”

Heejin smiled faintly. “That’s a pretty name.”

Olivia blinked, moving for the first time since she had turned to face Heejin.

“Listen,” Heejin said, clasping her own hands. “I’m here with my friends, trying to stop this place from hurting people like us.” She explained. “We…read your file. It looks like you’ve gone through a lot.”

Olivia watched her carefully. She knew what Heejin’s powers entailed. She was the master of creating illusions, and she must be good at them too if she was able to sneak through the building and make it up to the roof without being seen. 

“What this place has done to you? It’s downright horrible.” Heejin said, voice wobbling. “No kid should have to experience that.”

Olivia’s eyes flicked down to the ground and then back up to Heejin. “You don’t know what I’ve gone through.” She said in a hollow voice.

Heejin stood still for a moment, before responding, “No, I guess I don’t.” Reading a file was one thing, but it was another to experience it firsthand. “Do you want to tell me?”

A strange feeling wormed its way into Olivia’s chest. She never told people things. No one ever asked her to share things with them. It was so…foreign to her. Yet somehow she couldn’t stop herself from opening her mouth.

“I killed my parents.” She said in a monotone voice. “Over there.” 

Heejin followed Olivia’s outstretched arm to look over at the woods where a road snaked through the trees. “When you were four?” She asked, her voice quavering just a little bit.

Olivia nodded. “The car crashed.” She said. Their screams rang in her ears, always abruptly cut off when the crunch of metal replaced them. “I survived, and I was brought here.”

“And then they experimented on you?” Heejin asked, growing more and more horrified. “Why?”

“I was powerful.” Olivia said with a shrug. “I survived.”

With a start, Heejin realized she wasn’t only talking about the car crash, but about the experiments themselves. She had been the sole survivor. 

“If you’re more powerful than all the others, then why did you stay?” Heejin asked quietly.

Olivia frowned, emotion crossing her face for a brief second. Why did she stay? It had never really occurred to her. She didn’t like her room. She didn’t like the woman who called herself her mother. She didn’t like the scientists. So why didn’t she leave?

_ You owe your life to me. _

“I don’t have anywhere to go.” Olivia felt herself say. And it turned out that she had known why the whole time. She had no family—her family was dead. For twelve years, she had grown up inside the corporation. She didn’t know anything else.

“There’s a way out.” Heejin said with determination. “You could come with us.”

Olivia’s eyes flickered to meet Heejin’s. “How do I know your words carry strength?” She asked, her brows furrowed. “You are the illusionist. I can’t trust anything you say.”

Heejin’s eyes widened slightly upon the realization that Olivia knew who she was. But she bit back the questions that threatened to spill out of her mouth. Instead, she took a deep breath.

“Because I’ve lost my family too.” She said with a sigh. “My sister died a few years back.” Heejin explained. “We were close, but she always knew that her job was dangerous. She fought for what she believed in at the cost of her life.” She felt Olivia’s gaze clinging to her, boring holes into her soul.

“I lost my parents too.” She continued, her voice slightly quieter. “They sent me away after my sister died, and our relationship was never the same. They may not be gone from this world, but they’re gone from my life.

“Yet I found a family.” Heejin said, her eyes shining. “My friends are my family now, and we protect each other. It can be that way for you too. You don’t have to stay here—we can help you, even if that means you don’t want to stay with us.”

When Olivia didn’t say anything, Heejin took a small step forward. “I have no reason to deceive you.” She said in a steady voice. “If you’re unhappy here, you have the power to change that. You can take your fate into your own hands.”

Olivia looked down at her palms. She was…unhappy. For better or for worse, the words of the illusionist were sinking into her skin. She wanted to be happy. She wanted to have a family. 

“I don’t deserve it.” Olivia said, so quietly Heejin barely heard her over the wind, which was growing stronger by the minute.

Heejin took another step forward. “Everyone deserves happiness and love.” She said softly. 

When Olivia looked back up at her, Heejin saw that there were tears in her eyes. She felt her heart breaking for a girl she barely knew, yet whose story was so familiar. Because there were so many others out there that had suffered like they had.

Olivia closed her eyes, and Heejin wondered if she had made a decision. When she opened them, they were glowing with brilliant light. They were so bright that they hurt to look at, and Heejin squinted, holding her hand in front of her face. 

Tears rolled down Olivia’s cheeks as the building started to shake beneath them. Heejin stumbled, feeling the rooftop shift under her. She fell to her knees, looking up at the girl who was still standing across from her. Heejin watched in awe as Olivia’s hair began to take on a golden color, glowing with light. 

The building continued to shake as the wind whipped around them. Heejin could hear the noise of cracking concrete over the roar. She looked over to the west, but could barely make anything out amidst the wind and rain. When she looked back at Olivia, she saw that the girl’s entire body was beginning to glow. 

* * *

Jiwoo watched in amazement as Haseul began to rise above the treetops, her palms held out by her sides, turned up towards the sky, which was quickly darkening. The wind tore through the trees and blasted across the open field, but to Jiwoo, it felt like a light breeze. 

Soldiers and scientists out on the field were turning and pointing at Haseul, seeing her emerge from the trees. Soon, they were going to figure out that she was the cause of the storm. Jiwoo would have to act quickly, but luckily, time was something she had on her side. 

Hail began to fall over the field, pinging off the metal trucks and clattering on the pavement. With each second that passed, the icy pellets grew in size, until they resembled golf balls. Some of the men screamed and ran for cover, and a couple of the trucks swerved, sizable dents forming in their hoods. Jiwoo spotted a couple of soldiers pointing their guns towards her friend, and her heart stopped.

Before she realized what was happening, everything around her slowed to a standstill, and the only thing she heard was the roar of blood rushing in her ears. Jiwoo ran onto the open field, pushing hail out of the way as she headed towards the soldiers. Then an idea struck her.

Jiwoo grabbed two pieces of hail out of the air and chucked them as hard as she could at the soldiers. She hurled a few more in their direction just to be sure they would make their mark, before grabbing their guns and stashing them in the bushes that lined the building. Then she sprinted as fast as she could back to the trees.

Everything sped up again, and the wind roared in her ears this time. Jiwoo peeked from behind a tree to see a couple of confused soldiers nursing bruises, and she chuckled to herself, her head pounding slightly. But they still weren’t in the clear.

“Jiwoo!” Haseul called down at her from above. “The truck!”

Jiwoo followed her gaze to see that the first truck in the line had almost reached the gate. She cursed before taking a deep breath, preparing herself. 

Everything around her slowed once more, and Jiwoo tore across the pavement. When she reached the truck, she flung the door open, looking around to see what she could do. She wondered if she could place a brick on the brake pedal, but quickly tossed the idea out. The driver could easily remove it; she needed something foolproof.

She looked at the back of the truck and grabbed a metal pole. Next Jiwoo pried the driver’s hands off the steering wheel before turning it to the right as far as it would go, and shoving the pole through it to lock it in place. Then, with a slight smirk on her face, she grabbed a brick and placed it on the gas pedal. 

As she turned to head back to the trees, Jiwoo stumbled, a throbbing pain ringing through her head. She ran a few paces before falling to the wet pavement. The wind whipped through her clothes, and she knew, with a feeling of dread, that she had messed up.

Behind her, the truck that had been leading the line swerved in a wide circle and smashed into the one directly behind it, causing the rest of the trucks to crash into each other. Jiwoo winced, but at least she had done something right.

Someone shouted, and suddenly people began to notice her, sitting in the middle of the tarmac. Several seconds later, the hail stopped falling, and the wind died down. 

Jiwoo tried to slow everything around her once more, but her skull felt like it was splitting down the center. She gasped in pain, clutching the sides of her head. When she looked up, she saw several soldiers running towards her, their faces filled with rage. All she could do was watch them, trembling in fear. 

Suddenly, someone grabbed her from behind and scooped her up with one arm behind her back, and the other under the crook of her knees. Jiwoo yelped as she looked down and saw the ground falling far, far beneath her as she soared up into the sky.

She turned her head to see Sooyoung carrying her through the air, her dark hair whipping around her worried eyes. She looked down at Jiwoo, fear etched into every line of her being, and Jiwoo flung her arms around her neck.

“I thought I was going to lose you.” Sooyoung said quietly. “Thank goodness I saw you in time.”

Jiwoo smiled up at her, the pain slowly receding in her head. “You saved me.”

Sooyoung looked off into the distance, her expression unreadable. “I never want to see you like that again. I never want to see you in danger. Ever.” She said, and Jiwoo felt her breath catch in her throat. 

“Okay.” She mumbled. “You won’t have to.”

Sooyoung met her eyes with a grim expression, and they both knew that Jiwoo was making an impossible promise. But they also both knew that the two of them would do anything to keep it. Both girls hugged each other tight as they flew through the air, back to safety.

Jiwoo couldn’t explain it, but she felt that something between them had changed when Sooyoung spotted her and rescued her. 

“What is that?” Sooyoung asked, pulling Jiwoo out of her thoughts. She turned her head to look over at the trees, where Haseul had been floating. 

Ice and wind and rain had begun to collect around her until a miniature hurricane obscured the base of her body. As they watched, Haseul folded her arms and began to spin around, propelling the storm. Then she leaned forward, and she spun with her hurricane across the tarmac, heading right for them.

Sooyoung quickly flew out of the way, and the two girls watched Haseul rip up the pavement and tear trucks apart as she unleashed her wrath upon the soldiers. Jiwoo looked down and noticed a blur of a figure zipping across the field, knocking out the remaining soldiers. Some of them were incapacitated in mere seconds, and they knew Jungeun and Jinsoul were making quick work of the people left standing.

Jiwoo and Sooyoung floated to the ground at the edge of the trees, where the rest of the girls had gathered. Sooyoung kept one arm around Jiwoo, whose legs were still unsteady. As Jungeun, Jinsoul, and Haseul walked back towards them, their job had finally been completed. Or so they thought.

The three girls on the pavement halted in their tracks as the building shuddered next to them. Chunks of stone and concrete fell to the ground, and the whole thing seemed to groan in pain.

“The roof.” Yerim said suddenly, and everyone turned to look at her. “They’re on the roof.” She was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, and for a second, her right eye flashed purple.

“I’ll go get them.” Sooyoung said, knowing she would be the fastest. She leaned Jiwoo against a tree, but before she could take off, the younger girl gripped her wrist.

“Be careful too.” Jiwoo said, looking into her eyes. Sooyoung nodded, and she dropped her hand. Then she flew off towards the roof of the building, with the rest of the girls watching in anticipation.

After a few moments, when Haseul, Jungeun, and Jinsoul had rejoined them, the girls watched as three people floated down from the rooftop of the building. Sooyoung was carrying Heejin in her arms, and she set her down once they reached the forest. However, all eyes were on the third girl, who had lowered herself to the ground on her own. Her black hair glowed with light, and her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

“What’s happening to the building?” Haseul asked, voicing everyone’s question. 

The girl looked back at it, watching the crumbling structure. “It’s dying.” She said eerily, and Jiwoo felt a chill run down her spine.

The twelve girls watched the BbCorp headquarters begin to crumple in on itself. The girl with black hair glared at it, like it had personally offended her. Though Jiwoo didn’t know it, the building had.

In a matter of minutes, the building had begun to implode until it was compressed into a tiny ball. Jiwoo frowned, wondering what could be happening next. As if on instinct, she yelled for everyone to get to cover. All the girls, save for the glowing one, ducked, and not a minute too soon. 

The ball exploded, sending debris and rocks flying around the clearing. The black-haired girl held up her hand, blocking the force of the explosion and the debris from falling on them. Jiwoo screwed her eyes shut, holding her hands over her head as she huddled next to Chaewon.

As the dust began to settle, the girls slowly looked up. The girl with black hair stood at the edge of the clearing, her hand held out in front of her. Past the trees, where there once was a massive, imposing building, there stood nothing. 

The girl lowered her hand to her side and turned to face the others. Her eyes and hair that had been glowing with brilliant light, slowly started to fade. As the sun sank in the sky, little constellations sparkled across her cheeks.

It was over. They had won. They would be for one day more.

And although they couldn’t guarantee their safety for the day after that, they had hope. They had taken fate into their own hands, and changed their lives for the better. They had hope, and that was all that mattered. 

Because they were the universe, and they were filled with light. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying not to get emotional now that this fic is going to be officially completed and shared with the world. It has been such a journey coming up with this idea in 2017~2018, and completing it in 2020. I put a lot of hard work into it, and I think it payed off. I got to learn about my writing style, and I got to develop a 'long' story for the first time.  
> Some time hopefully soon in the future, I'm going to start writing and uploading my next long chaptered fic. So far, I have an estimated 35 chapters (oh boy) so look forward to that if you want. The only hint you get is that the characters are members of stray kids, another of my ult groups. After that, will be another fic that I also have an idea for, and that will probably be of similar length (yike).  
> In case anyone is sad that this chapter is pretty open-ended, fret not! I already have ideas for a sequel, because I have a lot of characters in mind when it comes to this au. I definitely won't upload it until after the two fics that I already have planned, but I really really want to. So if I never post it, assume I am dead. Because I will write it whether anyone wants me to or not.  
> This is getting long but I also just wanted to say thank you for all the lovely comments you have left along the way. I honestly wasn't sure anyone was going to read or appreciate this fic. But your messages made me smile and helped make this journey fun.  
> Until next time


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